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Sciences 

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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHIVI/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  IVIicroreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


Thee 
to  th 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


0 


D 


D 
D 


D 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommagde 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurde  et/ou  pellicul6e 


□    Cover  title  missing/ 
Le 


titre  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  gdographiques  en  couleur 

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La  re  Mure  serr6e  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
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Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajoutdes 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  6tait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  dt6  film^es. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppl6mentaires: 


L'institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  6t6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  ddtaiis 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-dtre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvert  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mithode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiquds  ci-dessous. 


□   Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 


n 

D 


D 
D 


Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagdes 

Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaurdes  et/ou  pellicuites 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  ddcoiordes,  tachet^es  ou  piqu^es 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  d6tach6es 


The! 
possi 
of  th 
filmii 


Origii 
begir 
the  li 
sion, 
other 
first 
sion, 
or  Hid 


rri    Showthrough/ 


Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Quality  in6gale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  materii 
Comprend  du  materiel  suppi^mentaire 


I      I    Quality  of  print  varies/ 

I      I    Includes  supplementary  material/ 


The  I) 
shall 
TINU 
whic» 

Maps 
differ 
entire 
bogini 
right  1 
requir 
meth< 


Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
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ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totaiement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6t6  fiimies  A  nouveau  de  fa9on  d 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  fiimd  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu^  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

y 

12X 


16X 


2QX 


24X 


28X 


32X 


The  copy  filmed  hare  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 


aire 
details 
ues  du 
t  modifier 
ger  une 
I  filmage 


f 
\6ea 


re 


Brock  University 
St.  Catharines 


The  imeges  appeering  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contrect  specificationa. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impree- 
sion,  or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copiee  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  psge  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  laat  page  with  a  printed 
or  illuatrated  impreaaion. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shell  contain  the  symbol  — ^  (meaning  "COrj- 
TINUEO").  or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  plates,  cherts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  retios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  i  'ni  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
require  \  The  following  diagrams  illuatrate  the 
method; 


L'exemplaire  filmi  fut  reproduit  grice  it  la 
gin^rositi  da: 

Brocic  University 
St.  Catharines 

Les  images  suivantes  ont  M  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tsnu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettet«  de  lexemplaire  film«,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplaires  origineux  dont  la  couverture  en 
pepier  est  imprimte  sent  fiimis  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plot,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
origineux  sont  filmAs  en  commen9ant  par  la 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  darnlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  dee  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
derniire  imege  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  — *>signifie  "A  SUIVRE  ",  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
filmte  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diffdrents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cliche,  il  est  film6  d  partir 
de  Tangle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'Images  nicessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mithode. 


f  errata 
d  to 

It 

le  pelure, 

;on  d 


U 


1 

2 

3 

32X 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

Con 


THE  ; 


^-s" 


THE 


Condition  of  Niagara  Falls, 


AKD    THB 


MEASURES  NEEDED  TO   PRESERVE  THEM. 


EIGHT    LETTERS 

FDBLISUED    IN 

THE  NEW  YORK  EVENING  POST,  THE  NEW  YORK  TRIBUNE, 
AND  THE  BOSTON  DAILY  ADVERTISER, 

DUHING   THE    SUSIMEU   OF   1882. 


By    J.     B.     HARRISON. 


NEW    YORK: 

1882. 


En 


wit 
wo 
chi 
thr 
ini 


Jliese  Letters,  the  result  of  a  recent  study  of  Niagara  and  its 
Environment,  are  respectfully  inscribed  to 

The  Journalists  of  America, 


with  the  conviction  that  if  the  final  ruin  of  this  scene  of  beauty  and 
wonder  shall  be  averted,  that  fortunate  result  will  be  brought  about 
chiefly  by  the  intelligence  and  public  spirit  which  find  expression 
through  the  newspapers  of  the  two  countries  having  a  common 
interest  in  the  subject  herein  presented. 


Franklin  Falls,  New  Hampshire, 
October  25,  1882. 


C' 


THE 


Condition  of  Niagara  Falls, 


AND   THB 


MEASURES  NEEDED  TO  PRESERVE  THEM. 


EIGHT    LETTERS 

FDBLISHED     IN 

THE  NEW  YORK  EVENING  POST,  THE  NEW  YORK  TRIBUNE. 
AND  THE  BOSTON  DAILY   ADVERTISER, 

During  the  Summer  of  1882. 


By    J.    B.    HARRISON. 


NEW    YORK: 

1882. 


170543 


r 


UNivEnsiTY  Phess: 
John  Wilson  and  Son,  CAMnniDOE. 


•^mma 


NIAGARA    FALLS. 


I. 


[Trom  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  Aug.  0,  1882.] 

VARIETY  AND   VITALITY   OF  THE  GUEAT   CATARACT  — 

now   TO  SEE   IT. 


NiAOAHA  FvLL9,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  7,  1882. 

Is  it  worth  while  to  report  and  describe  truly  the  existing 
conditions  at  Niagara  Falls  ?  Thoughtful  pcoitle  find  this  a 
jdacG  of  wonderful  interest,  of  unparalleled  attraction ;  yet 
sonic  of  their  most  vivid  impressions  and  remembrances  of  the 
spot  are  eminently  unsatisfactory  and  disagreeable.  The  sce- 
nery here  has  an  absolutely  exhaustless  vitality.  Its  beauty 
grows  upon  evei'y  observer  who  remains  long  enough  to  recog- 
nize the  truth  that  the  spectacle  upon  which  lie  gazos  is  never 
twice  the  same.  The  longer  one  studies  the  view  at  some 
points  the  more  unwilling  he  is  to  turn  away.  It  is  like  leav- 
ing a  play  of  entrancing  interest  which  has  not  yet  ended. 
And  here  the  jjlay  never  ends.  This  is  the  great  characteristic 
of  Niagara,  —  its  "  infinite  variety."  There  arc  several  places 
in  the  rapids,  and  especially  about  the  head  of  Goat  Isl.and,  at 
each  of  which  the  changing  show  of  the  forms  and  motions  of 
the  water,  —  flinging,  tossing,  flying,  exploding,  thrown  high 
into  the  air  in  great  revolving  bands  and  zones  of  crystal  drops, 
shooting  aloft  in  slender,  vertical  jets  of  feathery  spray,  swing 
lag  in  wide-based,  massive  waves  like  those  of  the  ocean,  or 
gathered  into  billows  which  forever  break  and  fall  in  curving 


6 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


cnacadcs,  and  yet  sccni  not  to  f;ill  bccnnso  thoy  aro  rvrry  mo- 
nu'iit  renewed,  —  are  wortl»  a  journey  across  the  continent  to 
Bee. 

rotrU    SKPAUATK,    WATKUrM.r.S. 

There  is  a  j^reat  varii'ty  of  bfauty  and  interest  even  in  the 
F'alls  tlieniselves.  As  Luna  Island  divides  tiie  American  Fall, 
making  a  beautiful  separate  eascade  of  the  narrow  stream  which 
runs  next  to  Goat  Island,  ho  the  Binall  island  called  Terrapin 
Rocks  (on  AN  hich  Terrapin  Tower  formerly  stood)  cuts  olF  a 
broader  ])ortion  of  the  stream  on  the  Canadian  side  of  Goat 
Island,  and  makes  a  sei)arate  catara(!t  llu're.  Thus,  when  the 
Bpectator  is  on  the  lower  end  of  (Joat  Island,  there  is  on  each 
side  of  him,  first,  a  narrow  strait  or  ]»ortion  of  the  river,  just 
large  em)ugh  to  form  a  fine  fall  by  itself,  then  a  small  island, 
and  farther  on  a  great  cataract,  —  the  American  Fall  on  ono 
side,  and  the  Ilorse-Shoe  Fall  on  the  other.  These  divisions  of 
the  stream.,  with  four  separate  waterfalls,  diU'crent  in  volume 
and  environment,  and  so  each  ])ossessing  a  marked  individuality 
of  character,  yet  so  related  to  each  other  that  they  may  be 
regarded  as  forming  two  great  falls,  and  also  as  constituting, 
when  all  taken  together,  the  one  groat  cataract  of  Niagara, — 
render  the  scene  far  more  beautiful  and  interesting  than  one 
great  fall  of  the  undivided  river  could  possibly  be  ;  while  the 
fact  that  the  height  of  the  fall  is  everywhere  very  nearly  the 
same  maintains  the  impression  of  a  complete  and  all-cncom[)ass- 
ing  unity  in  the  central  spectacle  of  the  place.  There  is  great 
variety,  again,  in  the  lines  of  the  curves  made  by  the  descend- 
ing water  as  it  leaves  the  brink  of  the  fall,  as  an  artist  would  at 
once  observe,  and  some  of  these  curves  are  wonderfully  majes- 
tic and  beautiful.  There  aro  also  many  different  curves  and 
irregular  variations  in  the  line  of  the  top  or  brow  of  the  preci- 
pice over  which  the  water  rolls ;  and  while  for  the  most  part 
the  water  falls  sheer  and  free  from  the  edge  of  the  cliff  till  it 
strikes  the  stones  at  the  bottom,  there  arc  in  some  places  pro- 
jecting rocks  a  little  way  below  the  top  of  the  -fall,  upon  which 
the  descending  stream  is  broken,  and  from  which  it  is  thrown 
for  the  rest  of  the  way  down  into  new  lines  of  movement  and 
new  forms  of  beauty,  thus  adding  another  element  of  variety  to 


NIAGARA    FALLS. 


ycry  mrv 
|iii(-'nt  to 


1  in  tlio 
|«n  R'lll, 
'1  wliich 
Vrrapiii 
^s   ofF'ri 
>t'  Goat 
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Y  to 


the  face  of  the  catarmit.  In  some  plaeos  the  stream  pours  with 
.1  steady  roar  into  Houn<lU'ss  depths  of  water  at  the  foot  of 
the  precipice;  in  others  it  dashes  wilh  iiidescrihaltle  violence 
upon  great  masses  of  roc^k  below,  from  which  it  is  hurled  out- 
ward wilh  terrlllc  force  in  hissing  streams  and  spouts  of  sjiray. 
The  color  of  the  falling  water  also  varies  everywhi-re.  It  is  of 
snowy,  dazzling  whiteness  whcrc!  tlie  current  is  shallow  above, 
and  the  descending  stream  consequently  thin.  Tlirn;  is  a  little 
green  mingled  with  the  white  where  the  vohuiic  of  water  is 
somewhat  greater,  and  in  the  central  ] tortious  of  the  (treat  or 
II(jrse-Slioe  Fall  the  deep,  intense,  aolid  green  uf  the  water  has  a 
wonderful  vitality  and  beauty. 

TIIK    FRAMKWORK    OF    FOLIAGK. 

The  magnificent  framework  of  iivcon  foliage  in  which  tliis 
glorious  spectacle  of  the  myriad  forms  ami  shows  of  moving 
water  —  from  the  wild,  gay  tossing  of  the  rapids  to  the  solemn 
fall  of  the  cataract — is  set,  is  an  essential  and  indispensable 
part  of  its  interest  and  loveliness.  The  massive  growth  of  trees 
and  enveloping  vine  canopies  on  the  islands  and  river  shoro 
give  to  the  scene  such  sylvan  aspects  of  grace,  of  softness  and 
tenderness,  as  constitute  some  of  the  chief  elements  in  its  un- 
speak.ablo  charm,  and  some  of  the  most  forceful  (pialities  by 
which  it  mni.es  its  eternal  api)eal  to  the  heart  of  man.  Niagara 
would  not  be  what  it  is  now  if  it  rolled  through  a  bare,  brown 
desert  of  limestone.  It  is  not  the  water  —  the  river  —  alone 
that  gives  to  the  jdace  its  unequalled  attraction,  its  companion- 
les^s  grandeur  and  loveliness.  If  the  trees  >Iiould  be  destroyed, 
and  the  shores  and  islands  denuded  of  their  green  and  living 
beauty,  the  waters  might  rush  and  leap  in  the  rapids,  and  roll 
over  the  cliff  into  the  gulf  below,  as  now  ;  but  our  sense  of  (heir 
sparkling  gladness  and  gayety,  and  of  the  tenderness  and  pas- 
sionate, eager  youthfulness  in  the  life  of  the  scene  would  be 
gone.  The  sentiment  of  the  place,  and  the  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings appealed  to  and  insjjired  by  it,  woidd  be  wholly  different 
from  what  they  are  now  ;  and  they  would  necessarily  be  of  a 
much  lower  order  and  of  a  less  vital  quality.  The  value  of  this 
scenery,  as  a  great  possession  for  the  human  spirit,  a  source  of 


m 


8 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


uplifting,  vivifying  inspiration  for  those  who  can  receive  and 
enjoy  such  influences,  would  bo  terribly,  fatally  impaired. 


WHY  SOME    PERSONS   AKE  DISAPPOIXTICD. 

Some  people  do  not  see  or  feel,  in  any  considerable  degree, 
the  spiritual  charm  of  which  I  speak.  They  would  not  think 
of  coming  to  Niagara  for  reinforcement  of  strength,  for  sooth- 
ing, healing  delights,  or  uplifting,  peace,  or  for  hel])  of  any  kind 
for  the  deeper  needs  of  this  life.  They  come  hither  because  it 
is  the  fashion;  the  place  lies  in  Uie  round  of  travel,  and  they  sit 
in  their  carriages  at  the  top  of  the  stairway  leading  down  to 
Terrapin  Rocks  and  look  at  the  Great  Fall  for  a  minute  and  a 
half,  and  usually  remark,  as  they  pass  onward,  that  it  is  a  less 
ciirious  and  interesting  spectacle  than  they  had  expected  to  see, 
and  that,  "  on  the  whole,"  Xiagara  disappoints  them.  Of  course 
it  disaj^jwints,  and  must  forever  disappoint,  all  who  look  at  it  in 
this  foolish,  hurried  way.  It  requires  time  for  the  faculties  of  the 
human  mind  to  be  put  in  motion,  and  to  respond  to  such  a  spec- 
tacle as  this.  Nay,  it  takes  time  even  for  the  senses  to  recognize 
its  most  obvious  material  forms  and  aspects,  and  such  jiersons 
do  not  give  themselves  time  ^or  even  that.  "  May  be  I  can't 
appreciate  it  as  some  can,"  they  say.  No;  they  might,  in  a  min- 
ute and  a  half,  "appreciate"  the  burst  of  colored  fire  from  a 
sky-rocket,  and  enjoy  its  value  to  the  full ;  and  they  do  not 
understand  that  Niagara  is  a  spectacle  of  another  order.  Un- 
less they  can  become  more  thoughtful,  the  scene  here  is  not  for 
them.  There  are  other  i)eople  to  whom  Niagai'a  means  much. 
It  offers  to  those  who  are  weary  from  toil  of  any  kind,  of  liand 
or  brain,  or  from  the  wearing,  exhausting  quality  which  is  so 
marked  in  modern  life, — it  offers  to  all  such  a  vital  change, 
the  relief  and  benefit  of  new  scenes  and  new  mental  activities 
and  experiences  consequent  upon  observing  them  and  becoming, 
interested  in  them.  Then,  for  those  who  will  give  time  and 
opportunity  for  the  scene  to  make  its  appeal,  time  for  their 
minds  to  respond  to  its  influences,  there  is  something  deeper 
and  higher  than  this.  There  is  a  quickening  and  uplifting  of 
the  higher  powers  of  the  mind,  an  awakening  of  the  imagina- 
tion ;  the  soul  expands  and  aspires,  rising  to  the  level  of  a  new 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


9 


and  mighty  companionship.  Self-respect  becomes  more  vital. 
Good  tilings  seem  nearer  and  more  real,  and  the  nobleness  and 
worth  which  but  now  we  thought  beyond  attainment  by  us 
appear  part  of  our  inheritance  as  children  of  the  Highest.  I 
am  not  concerned  to  indicate  the  different  ways  in  which  the 
sentiment  or  spirit  of  the  scenery,  revealed  through  its  local 
aspects  and  characteristics  of  iiilinitely  varied  grandeur  and 
beauty,  at  last  opens  communication  between  itself  and  what  is 
highest  and  most  vital  in  the  mind  and  heart  of  man.  It  is 
little  worth  while  to  try  very  hard  to  "  enjoy  "  or  "  appreciate  " 
Niagara.  It  is  worth  while  to  try  to  sec,  to  become  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  form  and  appearance  of  each  particular  scene 
and  part  of  the  landscape,  especially  along  the  rapids  and  river 
shores,  and  about  the  falls  as  seen  from  above ;  and  then,  with- 
out any  straining  after  high  feeling  or  raptures  of  any  kind,  one 
is  likely,  by  and  by,  to  have  a  sense  that  the  visit  to  Niagara 
has  been  a  deep  and  vital  experience,  and  that  the  place  has 
become  a  real  resource  and  possession  to  the  soul  forever.  It 
is  easy  to  write  too  much  and  too  particularly  of  all  this  ;  for 
such  expcrioncos  and  feelings,  like  all  the  higher  moods  and 
activities  of  the  soul,  have  something  shy  ami  elusive  about 
them,  and  it  is  not  often  best  to  try  to  describe  them.  And 
Niagara  itself,  in  its  sovereign  dignity  and  perfection,  shames 
and  silences  all  effort  at  description  or  eulogy.  It  is  to  be  seen, 
felt  —  not  talked  about.  And  as  the  weeks  and  months  pass 
while  I  dwell  here,  by  the  very  sJirine  of  this  awful  beauty,  this 
veiled  and  shrouded  grandeur,  I  become  more  and  more  unwill- 
ing to  write  about  it,  and  can  well  believe  that  if  one  remained 
here  long,  all  attempts  at  expression  regarding  it  would  appear 
inappropriate  and  futile,  and  that  silence  would  seem  the  only 
true  tribute.  Perhaps  a  great  artist  might  feel  an  una])peasable 
longing  to  express  his  feelings  upon  canvas, —  if,  indeed,  the 
scene  is  not  too  great  to  be  painted. 


m 


:i, 


i;  I 


MISUSED   OPPORTtlNITIES. 


But  I  write  of  Niagara  for  two  reasons :  one  is,  that  so  many 
people,  who  ought  to  have  pleasure  and  delight  in  seeing  it, 
now  come  here  and  go  away  without  having  felt  delight  at  all, 

2 


J 


10 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


—  go  awny,  in  fact,  with  feelings  of  disappointment  and  vexa- 
tion, wiiic'h  settle  at  last  into  a  decided  inijjression  and  perma- 
nent remembrance  of  Niagara  as  a  disagreeable  place.  In  a 
great  many  cases  this  might  be  wholly  or  in  very  great  measure 
prevented  ;  and  it  is  for  this  reason,  and  not  at  all  for  the  sake  of 
any  attemjit  at  description,  that  I  write  on  this  subject.  Most 
of  the  peoj)le  who  come  hither  arc  possessed  of  but  moderate 
means  to  sustain  the  expenses  of  travel  for  pleasure  or  recreation, 
and,  in  consequence,  they  can  remain  at  the  Falls  but  a  short 
time.  Now,  this  is  the  class  of  persons  Avho  most  need,  and 
should  be  able  in  greatest  degree  to  enjoy,  ■whatever  delights 
or  benefits  the  place  can  minister  to  its  visitors.  The  rich  are 
better  able  to  take  care  of  themselves,  here  as  everywhere.  Or, 
if  they  do  not  know  how  to  enjoy  Niagara,  they  are  able  to  stay 
lono;  cnourrh  to  learn.  But  thousands  come  hither  for  whom  a 
day,  or  two  days,  is  all  the  time  that  can  be  devoted  to  this  ex- 
])erience.  If  i)e()])le  will  manage  wisely  it  is  worth  while  to 
travel  five  hundred  miles  to  see  Niagara,  even  if  they  can  re- 
main here  but  six  hours.  Most  people  who  are  here  but  for  a 
day  or  two  throw  away  the  larger  jiart  of  their  time,  so  limited, 
and  precious,  and  lose  the  real  opportunities  of  the  visit  almost 
wholly.  They  go  to  the  wrong  places,  and  do  the  wrong  things, 
and  so  waste  not  onlv  their  time  but  their  money.     If  one  can 

•  *■ 

be  liere  but  six  or  eight  hours,  he  should  not  think  of  using  a 
hack  or  carriage.  He  should  walk.  And  any  woman  who  can 
walk  two  miles  at  home  can  see  Niagara,  can  see  all  that  is 
essential  or  important  here,  without  troubling  a  hack-driver  or 
being  troubled  by  him.  If  women  would  but  bring  with  them 
a  pair  of  comfortable  shoes,  already  somewhat  worn,  and  put  on 
clothing  that  is  reasonably  light  and  loose,  for  the  day,  they 
coidd  easily  walk  wherever  it  is  necessary  for  short-time  visitors 


to  go. 


PROSPECT    PARK. 

The  proper  place  to  be  first  visited  by  all  intelligent  persons 
is  the  point  at  the  top  of  the  American  Fall,  on  the  American 
or  village  side  of  the  river.  This  jHacc  is  included  in  "  Prospect 
Park,"  and  twenty-five  cents  is  charged  for  admission  at  the 
gate.     It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  there  is  now  no  point 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


11 


from  which  an  inhabitant  of  our  country  can  sec  Niagara  Falls 
without  the  payment  of  a  fee.  But  it  is  a  fact,  and  visitors 
must,  of  course,  accept  existing  conditions  and  conform  to 
them.  The  evil  is  not  one  for  Avhich  any  individual  persons  are 
to  be  blamed.  It  is  inseparable  from  the  personal  ownership  of 
the  land  adjacent  to  the  river  at  this  point.  The  land  hero 
should  have  remained  permanently  the  property  of  the  State 
or  of  the  National  Government;  and  if  the  State  should  re- 
acquire the  title  to  all  the  land  which  is  essential  to  the  scenery 
of  Niagara,  it  would  be  a  most  wise  and  beneficent  measure, 
and  would,  no  doubt,  tend  in  an  ajipreciable  degree  to  national 
advancement  in  civilization.  The  view  of  the  American  Fall 
from  this  point,  of  the  river  below,  and  of  Goat  Island  and  part 
of  the  Horse- Shoe  Fall  beyond  it,  is  naturally  the  first  in  an 
ascending  series  which  includes  all  that  is  indispensable  or  even 
very  important  to  the  visitor.  There  are  comfortable  seats  in 
the  park,  the  place  is  pleasant  enough  in  the  daytime,  and  the 
view  all  that  can  be  desired  from  one  place.  But  it  is  just  here 
that  foolish  waste  of  time  and  money  on  the  part  of  the  short- 
time  visitor  usually  begins.  There  is  a  railway  down  an  in- 
clined plane  through  the  bank  to  the  river  below ;  there  are 
guides,  and  dressing-rooms,  and  waterproof  suits,  and  all  sorts 
of  appropriate  arrangements  down  there  for  creeping  around, 
as  a  moist,  unpleasant  body,  in  a  blinding  storm  of  spray  about 
the  foot  of  the  fall,  and  in  "  The  Shadow  of  the  Rock,"  where 
there  is  nothing  of  interest  to  be  seen,  and  where,  if  there  were 
untenable  wonders,  nobody  could  see  them.  Here  at  Niagara, 
where  the  fees  are  heaviest,  the  "  sights  "  have  least  interest  and 
value. 

GOAT   ISLAND. 

Everybody  appears  to  be  specially  interested  in  having  you 
visit  these  places,  where  it  is  all  feeing  and  no  seeing ;  but  the 
intelligent  short-time  visitor  will  say  no,  in  a  way  to  be  under- 
stood, and,  leaving  the  Park  by  tlie  gate  nearest  the  river,  will 
walk  a  few  rods  up  the  stream  (by  the  very  edge  of  the  Ameri- 
can Rapids)  to  the  Goat  Island  Bridge.  Here  the  fee  is  fifty 
cents.  (If  you  are  to  remain  for  some  days  pay  one  dollar  here 
and  seventy-five  cents  at  Prospect  Park,  and  come  and  go  at 


lii 


^ .  ■ 


•AfiBOi 


12 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


pleasure  without  further  charge.)  At  the  island  end  of  the 
bridge  take  the  steps  up  the  bank  to  the  right.  A  beautifully 
shaded  walk  through  the  forest  brings  you  to  Luna  Island,  at 
the  top  and  very  edge  of  the  Amcricnn  Fall  on  that  side. 
When  ready  to  proceed  keep  to  the  right  from  the  top  of  the 
stairway,  by  a  pleasant  path  along  the  edge  of  the  island,  paus- 
ing at  various  points  for  characteristic  views,  but  not  pausing 
for  the  descent  to  the  "  Cave  of  the  Winds,"  where  there  are 
more  dressing-rooms,  more  rubber  suits,  more  guides,  more 
soaking,  dashing  mists,  etc.,  requiring  time  and  money  in 
proportion.  The  walk  to  the  Great  Fall  requires  but  a  few 
moments.  liOok  at  it  first  from  the  head  of  the  stairway,  then 
from  Terrapin  Rocks  (where  Terrapin  Tower  formerly  stood). 

THE  RAPIDS. 

You  must  not  think  you  have  seen  Niagara  because  you 
have  seen  the  Falls.  The  rapids  at  the  head  of  Goat  Island, 
and  the  varied  and  wonderful  scenery  of  the  "Three  Sisters" 
at  that  point,  —  all  this  is  indispensable.  You  have  not  seen 
Niagara  if  you  have  omitted  this  region.  It  is  but  a  few 
minutes'  walk  again,  still  keeping  to  the  right  along  the  edge 
of  the  island  after  you  leave  the  Great  Fall.  Leaving  the 
"  Three  Sisters,"  go  directly  across  the  carriage  road,  up  the 
steps  and  past  the  excursion  or  picnic  building  in  the  woods, 
passing  to  the  right  of  it.  A  broad  path  through  the  woods 
leads  to  the  end  of  the  bridge  by  which  you  crossed  to  Goat 
Island.  Having  paid  your  half-dollar  to  go  to  the  island  every 
point  and  prospect  upon  it  and  around  it  is  free  to  you.  There 
are  no  further  fees. 

And  now,  if  one  has  followed  the  course  here  indicated, 
spending,  of  course,  as  much  time  as  he  can  afford  at  the  differ- 
ent points  of  interest,  and  especially  in  the  solitudes  of  the 
islands,  he  may  rightly  feel  that  he  has  seen  Niagara,  or  that  he 
has  been  at  the  right  places  for  seeing  what  is  essential  to  the 
charm  and  wonder  of  the  place  so  far  as  it  is  possible  to  see  and 
feel  it  in  so  short  a  time.  There  have  been  but  two  fees, 
amounting  to  $1.25.  If  the  visitor  must  leave  now,  he  need 
not  think  with  much  regret  of  what  he  has  not  seen.     If  he  can 


NIAGARA  FALLS. 


13 


stay  another  day  it  would  be  wise  to  go  over  the  same  ground. 
But  if  he  would  see  more,  the  next  thing  to  be  done  is  to  cross 
the  new  suspension  bridge  into  Canada,  and  go  up  to  that  side 
of  the  Great  Fall ;  and  the  next  after  this  is  the  visit  to  the 
Whirlpool,  some  miles  down  the  river.  This  last  will  require  a 
carriage  for  most  visitors.  The  fee  on  the  bridge  is  fifty  cents 
to  go  and  return.  The  view  of  the  Falls  from  the  Canada  side 
is  free.    A  public  road  follows  the  edge  of  the  cliff. 


i  ■ 


\i\\\i 


14 


NIAGARA    FALLS, 


II. 


IFrom  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  Aurj.  14,  1882.] 

THE    SMALL    SWINDLES    AND   SHAMS   OF  THE    PLACE,  AND 
WHAT  TO  DO  WITH  THEM. 


n! 


Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  9,  1882. 

As  there  is  much  comphiint  of  the  excessive  cost  of  a  visit  to 
Niagara,  it  seemed  worth  wliile  to  note,  as  I  did  in  ray  first  let- 
ter from  hero,  the  fnct  that  many  persons  might  see  all  that  is  of 
great  interest  at  the  Falls  with  very  little  exi)ense.  What  may 
be  called  the  territorial  concentration  of  the  interest  and  value 
of  the  scenery  here  is  most  remarkable.  The  region  which 
contains  all  that  is  greatly  worth  seeing  is  a  very  small  one,  and 
easily  accessible  on  foot.  Thus,  if  visitors  wish  to  go  only  to 
places  of  real  interest  and  importance,  they  need  not  waste 
money  in  either  admission  fees  or  hack-hire. 

THE    CURIOSITY    SHOPS. 

But  it  is  said  that  the  charges  at  the  Indian  stores  are  exces- 
sive, and  that  the  principal  waste  of  money  by  visitors  is  in 
purchases  made  at  these  places.  This  may  be  true,  but  I  have 
little  sympathy  for  people  who  complain  of  the  extravagant 
prices  charged  at  these  "  curiosity  shops."  It  is  true  that  few 
of  the  articles  sold  in  these  places  are  of  any  use  whatever. 
Most  of  them  are  also  extremely  ugly,  and  have,  therefore,  no 
value  as  ornaments.  The  only  reason  for  regarding  them  as 
"  souvenirs  of  Niagara  "  is  that  they  are  sold  here.  They  arc 
not,  generally,  made  here,  or  made  by  Indians  anywhere.  In 
some  of  the  shops  the  girls  tell  the  truth  about  the  things  they 
sell.  I  am  not  informed  whether  their  candor  is  an  injury  or  a 
benefit  to  the  business  of  these  places.     Probably  it  has  no  per- 


i! 


Iff 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


15 


r 

I^ACE,  AND 


ig.  9,  1882. 

of  a  visit  to 
ny  first  let- 
11  that  is  of 

What  may 

and  value 

gion  which 

all  one,  and 

go  only  to 

uot  waste 


are  cxces- 
iitors  is  in 
•nt  I  have 
ctravagant 
s  that  few 
wliatever. 
irefore,  no 
J  them  as 
They  are 
here.     In 
ings  they 
jury  or  a 
IS  no  per- 


ceptiblo  ciTect  in  either  way.  "  The  prices  are  unreasonable, 
and  the  same  things  can  be  bought  much  cheaper  elsewhere." 
Then  why  not  buy  them  elsewhere?  And  what  would  be  rea- 
sonable prices  for  tilings  that  are  ugly,  tawdry,  and  useless, 
vulgar  in  design  and  coarse  and  flimsy  in  workmanship  ?  Let 
the  people  who  like  to  "  adorn  "  their  parlors  with  such  articles 
buy  them,  and  pay  whatever  prices  the  sales-girls  choose  to  ask. 
The  real  interest  of  the  "Indian  stores,"  and  of  thoir  wares,  is 
in  the  fact  that  they  reflect  the  civilization,  culture,  and  taste  of 
—  the  purchasers.  If  the  people  of  our  country  wished  to  buy 
tasteful  and  beautiful  things  at  Niagara,  doubtless  such  articles 
would  be  offered  for  sale  in  these  stores.  But  why  should 
sensible  people  wish  to  do  their  shopping  here  ? 

THE    HACK-DRIVKUS. 

What  is  the  truth  about  what  is  called  the  "hack  nuisance"? 
The  first  thing  to  be  noted  is  that  each  hotel  keeps  its  own  car- 
riages, or  hacks,  and  employs  its  own  drivers,  and  these  are  not 
permitted  to  solicit  custom.  Persons  in  the  house,  desiring  a 
carriage  (and  any  outside  as  well),  have  but  to  apply  at  the 
office  of  the  hotel.  The  house  at  which  I  live  while  here 
charges  a  dollar  and  a  half  per  hour,  or,  for  what  is  called  "the 
round  trip,''  or  "  going  everywhere,"  five  dollars.  I  think  there 
is  rarely  or  never  any  complaint  regarding  these  drivers,  or 
any  reason  for  it.  The  men  who  have  made  the  term  "Niagara 
hack-driver"  a  name  of  terror  all  over  the  civilized  world  are 
men  who  arc  not  in  the  employ  of  the  hotels.  They  are  "  out- 
siders," or  independents,  who  work  for  themselves  or  for  differ- 
ent employers.  They  constantly  solicit  custom,  as,  I  suppose, 
is  unavoidable  if  they  are  to  engnge  in  the  business  at  all.  But 
it  is  apparent  that  they  do  not  understand  their  business  very 
well,  and  that  they  injure  it  by  bad  methods  of  work.  It  may 
be  that  there  are  some  good  and  sensible  men  among  them,  and 
it  is  possible  that  people  expect  too  much  from  them.  Perhaps 
no  man  vrould  long  retain  many  high  qualities  if  he  followed 
their  occupation.  I  have  never  had  any  trouble  with  any  of  the 
class,  and  have  found  it  easy  to  be  on  friendly  or  comfortable 
terms  with  them,  bo  far  as  is  desirable ;  but  I  often  observe  in 


\':' 


16 


NIAGARA   FALLS, 


their  dealings  with  strangers  an  element  of  trickincss.  The 
information  which  thoy  give  to  visitors  is  not  always  trust- 
worthy. It  is  commonly  understood  hero  that  hacknicn  receive 
commissions  on  admission  fees  j)aid  by  their  passengers  at  some 
points,  while  for  taking  people  to  other  j)laces  they  receive  only 
the  carriage  fares.  Now  it  follows,  under  these  circumstances, 
that,  in  the  judgment  of  a  hackman,  the  view  or  scenery  at  a 
particular  place  is  especially  interesting,  attractive,  and  beauti- 
ful if  his  commission  makes  the  drive  thither  especially  profit- 
able to  him ;  but  places  which  do  not  yield  him  a  share  of 
their  revenues  are  naturally  uninteresting.  They  aro  "hum- 
bugs " ;  they  "  don't  amount  to  anything  " ;  they  are  "  no  good." 
The  truth  seems  to  be  —  and  it  is  what  we  should  expect,  I  think, 
—  that  those  men  know  little  about  the  scenery,  in  any  true  sense, 
and  care  nothing  about  it.  It  would  be  foolish  to  dej)cnd  upon 
their  judgment  or  estimate  of  anything  which  attracts  sensible 
people  to  Niagara.  Thoy  do  not  know  what  is  best  worth  see- 
ing, but  they  find  it  most  profitable,  of  course,  to  convey  visitors 
to  the  most  distant  points.  Their  only  interest  or  concern  is, 
usually,  to  obtain  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  money  for  the 
least  possible  amount  of  work  or  service.  There  is,  much  of  the 
time  at  least,  no  fixed  schedule  of  prices.  They  take  all  they 
can  get,  and  take  advantage  of  the  ignorance,  inex2:»erience,  and 
mistakes  of  strangers,  without  scruple  or  limit.  So  far  from 
manifesting  a  disposition  of  general  courtesy  and  serviceable- 
ness,  which  is  profitable  in  all  occupations,  these  men  often 
appear  delighted  to  see  anybody  who  does  not  employ  them 
get  into  trouble  or  difficulty. 

CASES   IX    POINT. 

A  day  or  two  ago  I  saw  a  quarrel  between  a  driver  and  four 
young  men  whom  he  had  agreed  to  take  around  Goat  Island 
for  three  dollars.  They  got  in  just  outside  of  Prospect  Park 
and  rode  to  the  entrance  of  the  bridge  leading  to  the  island,  a 
distance  of  but  a  few  rods.  Here  they  met  some  friends,  or  for 
some  other  reason  changed  their  minds,  and  decided  not  to  go 
to  Goat  Island.  They  offered  the  driver  fifty  cents,  and  wished 
to  dismiss  him,  but  he  insisted  on  the  payment  of  the  full  sum 


f 


NIAGARA  FALLS. 


17 


ncss.    The 
^••lys  trust- 
en  receive 
rs  at  some 
ccivo  only 
nnstances, 
-"cry  at  a 
'<!  beautl- 
'IJy  profit- 
sliare  of 
'0  "hum- 
lo  good." 
t,  I  think, 
■uc  sense, 
nd  upon 
sensible 
)rth  see- 
visitors 
iccrn  is, 
^  for  the 
^hofthe 
all  they 
ice,  and 
iir  from 
iceablc- 
1  often 
/'  them 


d  four 
Island 

Park 
and,  a 
or  for 
to  go 
ished 

sum 


which  he  was  to  receive  for  the  trip  for  which  ho  was  at  first 
engaged,  and  when  the  young  men  refused,  threatened  to  col- 
lect it  by  law.  I  have  not  learned  whether  he  did  so  or  not. 
A  young  Canadian  came  over  a  few  days  ago  with  his  wife  and 
two  or  three  little  children.  At  the  railway  station  a  driver 
agi'ecd  to  take  them  "all  around"  for  a  dollar  and  a  half;  but 
the  young  fellow  foolishly  paid  in  advance.  The  hackman 
drove  a  short  distance,  to  the  first  point  at  which  the  visitors 
left  the  carriage  to  look  at  something,  and  then  went  away  and 
left  them.  The  drivers  are  often  wantonly  oflfensive  and  un- 
civil to  strangers.  One  morning  recently  I  saw  seven  or  eight 
carriages  standing  in  line  on  a  street  leading  to  the  river,  waiting 
for  custom.  A  gentleman  and  lady  of  middle  age,  well  dressed 
and  ai^parently  intelligent,  came  up  tho  sidewalk,  engaged  in 
quiet  conversation.  The  first  hackman  began :  "  Gentleman, 
hev  a  kerridge  this  morning? — take  you  to  the  Whirlpool 
Rapids,  'n'  all  the  points  of  int'rest  —  see  everything  f-four  dol- 
lars." The  gentleman  answered  respectfully  but  decidedly, 
as  he  walked  on,  "  Thank  you,  I  do  not  wish  to  ride."  All  the 
nearer  hackmen  must  have  heard  his  answer,  but  the  next  one 
took  up  tho  same  sing-song  lecture,  in  a  little  higher  key,  and 
at  the  end  added  an  insolent  injunction  to  the  traveller  not  to 
let  anybody  make  a  fool  of  him.  This  was  all  repeated  along 
the  entire  line,  each  driver  making  some  insulting  addition  to 
the  "  cry  "  of  the  first,  until  two  or  three  of  them  were  scream- 
ing at  the  same  time.  The  last  one,  lolling  on  his  seat  in  a 
vulgar  attitude,  called  out  with  most  offensive  tone  and  manner, 
"  Come  yere !  I  '11  take  ye  and  yer  lady  all  round  for  nothin'." 
"Yes,"  chorused  the  others,  "take  him  for  nothin'  —  that's 
what  he  wants."  I  did  not  see  the  visitors  again,  and  it  is  not 
likely  that  they  remained  long  at  Niagara. 

BAD   MANAGEMENT. 

There  should  be  some  efficient  supervision  of  this  business ; 
but  there  appears  to  be  no  system,  no  responsibility,  connected 
with  it.  Nearly  all  old  visitors  to  Niagara  say  that  this  nui- 
sance —  the  hackraen's  ubiquitous  and  persistent  annoyance  — 
keeps  many  people  from  coming  hither,  and  especially  that  it 

8 


18 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


Ill 


jtreventa  many  who  liavo  been  here  once  from  returning,  and 
remaining  Imig  enough  to  know  and  enjoy  more  deeply  the 
charm  of  the  scenery,  wliich  seen  once  always  beckons  and 
draws  them  hitherward  again,  with  ever-increasing  attraction. 
It  is  common  in  the  village  to  defend  or  excuse  the  hackmen  by 
saying  that  "it's  the  same  in  all  other  largo  places."  But  I 
have  been  in  all  the  large  towns  of  our  country,  and  I  have 
never  seen  anywhere  I'lsc  conduct  so  foolishly  and  stupidly 
offensive  on  the  part  of  hackmen.  The  people  hero  say,  also, 
"  Every  man  that  complains  has  the  remedy  in  Ids  own  hands. 
Let  him  prosecute  the  drivers,  and  have  them  punished,  if  they 
liave  done  anything  wrong."  Now,  however  praiseworthy  it 
might  ])e  for  a  man  to  undertake  by  any  means  to  reform  the 
manners  of  sucli  a  class  as  the  Niagara  hack-drivers,  such  a 
work  is  no  part  of  the  object  which  one  has  in  view  in  travel- 
ling for  pleasure,  rest,  and  recreation.  I  cannot  find  that  there 
is  any  public  sentiment  here  which  concerns  itself  in  any  con- 
siderable degree  with  these  matters,  or  with  anything  else, 
except  the  effort  to  obtain  as  much  money  as  possible  from 
visitors;  and  even  in  this,  as  I  have  indicated,  many  people 
here  exhibit,  in  some  things,  a  lack  of  foresight,  of  judgment, 
and  true  public  spirit,  which  is  injurious  to  the  interests  of  the 
place  and  of  their  own  business. 

THE    RIGHT   REMEDY. 

I  would  not  describe  this  village  as  a  bad,  or  "  rough,"  place. 
I  only  mean  to  say  that  as  to  its  management  of  its  own  interests 
as  a  watering-place,  or  summer  resort,  there  does  not  seem  to 
be  adequate  wisdom,  energy,  or  co-operation  among  its  inhabi- 
tants. An  old  resident  here  said  to  me  yesterday,  "  We  're  a 
slow-goin',  sleepy  old  town  —  some  nice  people  here,  but  things 
goes  on  rather  accidental  like."  I  think  it  is  plain  that  there  is 
not  here,  on  the  ground,  such  a  conjunction  of  intelligence, 
organizing  powers,  pecuniary  resources,  and  efficient  public 
spirit,  as  is  required  for  the  direction  of  the  affairs  and  enter- 
prises of  the  local  community  in  its  relation  to  Niagara  Falls  and 
the  scenery  about  them,  and  to  the  interest  of  the  American 
people  in  the  unequalled  attractions  of  this  scenery.    The  truth 


t 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


19 


is  that  Niagara  is  too  great  to  bo  the  possession  of  any  local 
community,  or  of  the  individuals  composing  it.  It  should 
belong  to  the  larger  community,  the  State,  or  the  nation,  and 
be  under  its  care  as  a  possession  of  the  whole  people,  so  that 
this  spectacle  may  be  preserved  forever  unim])aired,  to  be  to  all 
generations  the  source  of  the  highest  intellectual  and  spiritual 
pleasures.  It  would  tend  greatly  to  benefit  this  town  and  its 
people  if  the  State  would  purchase  the  land  adjacent  to  the  Falls 
and  rapids,  and  the  islands  in  the  river,  and  assume,  as  would  of 
course  result,  the  supervision  of  all  business  that  should  be  car- 
ried forward  within  these  limits.  And  I  must  do  the  people 
here  the  justice  to  say  that  they  appear  very  generally  to  under- 
stand this,  and  to  desire  the  consummation  of  some  plan  which 
shall  provide  for  these  changes, 


20 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


III. 


[From  the  Kew  York  Evening  Post,  Aug.  17,  1882.] 

CAN  TIIFY  BE  SAVED? -HOW  A  MILLION  DOLLARS  COULD 
HE  WELL  INVESTED  — iVN  OPruU'l  UNITY  TILVT  MAY  BE 
LUST  IN  TWO   YEARS. 

Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  15,  1882. 

While  the  })Cople  of  this  town  who  are  interested  in  Ning.ira 
Falls  as  a  watering-iilace  or  Rummer  resort  are  in  a  coni|tlaining 
or  discouraged  mood,  those  who  arc  engaged  in  manufacturing 
enterjtrises,  or  who  own  lands  which  offer  suitable  sites  lor  shops 
and  factories,  are  in  high  spirits.  They  lament  sincerely,  I 
doubt  not,  the  necessity  of  sacrificing  Niagara,  and  all  its  beauty 
and  attractiveness,  to  business  and  commercial  interests.  They 
say,  "  We  should  be  glad  if  somebody  —  if  the  State  —  would 
buy  this  i)roperty  and  preserve  tlio  scenery.  But  we  cannot 
afford  to  keep  these  lands  merely  for  the  sake  of  beauty  and  the 
pleasure  it  will  give  toother  peoi)le,  when  their  use  for  manufac- 
turing purposes  will  yield  a  large  and  permanent  income."  It  is 
not  just  to  blame  these  persons,  nor  to  impute  sordid  motives 
to  them,  or  accuse  them  of  "  vandalism  "  or  barbarian  tastes. 
The  men  who  own  Goat  Island,  or  the  river  front  along  tlie 
American  Rapids,  are  no  more  under  obligation  to  sacrifice  tlie 
fortunes  of  their  families  in  order  to  provide  and  maintain  a 
beautiful  place  of  resort  for  the  people  of  our  country  than  are 
the  farmers  of  the  Genesee  Valley  or  of  Southern  Illinois.  They 
have  the  same  right  that  other  men  have  to  use  their  property 
for  their  own  profit  and  advantage.  These  men  appear  to  me 
to  possess  as  much  public  spirit  as  can  be  found  anywhere 
among  the  best  people  of  our  country.  I  doubt  if  any  possible 
change  of  owners  could  put  this  property  into  much  better 
hands.    It  seems  to  be  an  extremely  superficial  method  of  deal- 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


21 


iiig  with  the  qncHtions  ami  interests  involved,  which  lends  to 
criticism  of  the  hind-owners  and  nviniifacturers  here,  —  or  of 
any  other  elnss  of  the  people  of  thi-  town,  —  as  its  chief  result. 
It  is  not  the  vandalism  or  soulless  j^reed  of  the  people  hero 
which  is  imperilling  Niagara,  und  which  will  -oon  destroy  it 
fori'ver  unless  some  eflectual  interposition  prevent*  the  consuiu- 
ination  of  this  ruin.  It  is  really  •-oicnco,  or  the  ehange^l  meth- 
ods and  conditions  of  life  which  the  modern  development  of 
science  has  produced,  that  is  sweepioi/  away  the  ancient 
beauty  of  this  wonderful  place,  and  that  thrcjitcns  the  desola- 
tion which,  if  we  sutfer  it  to  be  com}»lete<l,  will  be  matter  of 
deepest  regret  to  the  civilized  world  for  all  coming  time.  Mod- 
ern improvements  in  manufacturing  appliances  and  methods, 
and  in  the  means  of  transportation,  have  multii»lied  many  times 
the  value  of  the  lands  ne:ir  the  Falls  as  sites  for  mills,  and  have 
rendered  the  utilization  of  the  immense  water-power  of  the  river 
imperatively  necessary.  If  the  State  should  purchase  these 
lauds,  —  as  it  should,  in  order  to  preserve  the  scenery,  —  tlie 
water-power  could  be  utilized  just  as  fully,  and  the  mills  and 
shops  would  be  quite  as  valuable,  a  little  farther  away  from  the 
Falls. 


WHAT   THE    LAND    WOULD    COST    THE    STATE. 

The  purchase  by  the  State  of  territory  which  should  include 
all  the  characteristic  scenery  connected  with  the  place,  all  that 
is  really  valuable  for  its  beauty  in  the  region  about  the  Falls, 
would  not,  in  any  degree  or  manner  whatever,  interfere  with 
the  development  or  application  of  tlie  water-power  of  Niagara. 
The  water  can  be  taken  from  the  river  above  the  rapids,  by 
means  of  canals,  and  carried  wlierever  it  is  wanted.  There  is 
more  room  and  there  are  far  better  sites  for  factories  at  some 
distance  away  from  tlie  Falls  than  can  be  obtained  in  their  im- 
mediate vicinity,  with  just  as  much  water  and  more  fall  —  far 
more  of  both,  indeed,  than  can  ever  be  utilized.  It  is  not  pro- 
posed to  injure  any  private  interest  in  this  instimce  in  order  to 
benefit  the  public.  Nobody  is  to  be  forcibly  or  wrongfully  dis- 
possessed. All  the  property  that  is  situated  within  the  limits 
of  the  proposed  reservation  should  be  justly  or  even  generously 


22 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


i 


paid  for.    It  is  probable  that  such  a  measure  would  encounter 
little  opposition  from  those  Avho  would  be  directly  or  chiefly 
affected  by  it,  —  the  owners  of  the  lands  and  improvements  ly- 
ing within  the  region  referred  to  as  essential  to  the  restoration 
and  preservation  of  the  scenery  about  the  Falls.     It  is  a  won- 
derful thing  that,  owing  to  the  conformation  of  the  ground 
here,  and  the  peculiar  grouping  of  the  various  objects  or  places 
of  chief  interest,  the  beauty  of  the  scenery  can  be  restored,  and 
its  value  retained  forever  unimpaired,  by  the  appropriation  of 
so  small  a  region  or  territory  for  the  purposes  of  a  reservation. 
Goat  Island  and  the  smaller  islands  near  it,  all  taken  together, 
contain  bctAveen  sixty  and  seventy  acres.     The  other  islands, 
though  very  beautiful,  are,  most  of  them,  very  small.     Then,  on 
the  American  side  of  the  river,  the  extent  of  ground  which 
would  have  to  be  purchased,  according  to  the  best  plan  that  has 
been  proposed  for  a  reservation,  would  be  oidy  about  seventy- 
seven  acres.     In  1879,  Mr.  James  I.  Gardner,  director  of  the 
New  York  Gtate  Survey,  and  Mr.  Frederick  Law  Olmsted  re- 
ported to  the  Legislature  that  "on  the  main   shore,   by  the 
removal  of  seven  good  buildings  nud  ten  of  little  value,  the 
river  front  of  Niagara  village  may  be  cleared  from  Port  Day  to 
Upper  Suspension  Bridge,  giving  a  belt  of  public  land  a  mile 
long  and  widening  from  one  hundred  feet  at  the  head  of  the 
rapids  to  eight  hundred  feet  broad  at  the  Falls,  where  most 
room  is  needed  for    visitors."    The  "improvements"  on  this 
belt  are  about  tlie  same  now  as  when  these  gentlemen  exam- 
ined the  ground   and   made  their   admirable  and   interesting 
report.     Tlie  i)robable  cost  of  establishing  the  proposed  reser- 
vation has  been  estimated  at  about  $1,000,000.     This  would  be 
a  small  sum  for  the  State  of  Xew  York  to  invest  in  securing  so 
great  a  possession  and  benefit  to  her  people  forever.    To  restore 
the  river  shore  along  the  Amciioan Rapids  to  its  pristine  beauty 
would  be  a  real  triumi)h  of  civilization,  and  a  notable  instance 
of  the  employment  of  the  noble  art  of  landscape  gardening  in 
successful  co-operation  with  nature  for  the  attainment  of  the 
highest  and  most  beneficent  ends.     Some  of  the  eldest  among 
my  readers  can  recall  the  sylvan  loveliness  and  wildness  of  this 
shore  when  it  was  yet,  in  great  part  at  least,  uudespoilcd  and 


J 


NIAGARA    FALLS. 


28 


undisfigurecl.  Now  it  is  difficult  to  imagine,  if  one  has  not  seen 
it,  so  much  ugliness,  untidiness,  and,  in  places,  squalor,  as  one 
sees  on  parts  of  this  small  belt  of  land.  There  are  spots  that 
recall  tlie  dismal,  hopelessly  littered  and  neglected  look  of  tho 
suburbs  of  some  towns  in  Arkansas.  (My  readers  must  say 
Arkansaio,  or  they  will  not  feel  the  full  force  of  this  com- 
parison.) 

THE    WORK    OP   DISFIGUKEMENT. 

Let  me  quote  again  from  the  special  report  of  the  Commis- 
sioners of  the  State  Survey  on  the  Preservation  of  the  Scenery 
at  Niagara  Falls  :  — 

♦'  Half- way  between  Goat  Island  and  the  American  side  of  the  river 
is  Bath  Island,  whose  position  in  the  middle  of  these  rapids  must  have 
made  it  a  fascinating  place  in  early  days.  In  an  evil  hour  it  entered 
into  some  man's  mind  to  start  a  paper-mill  there,  —  small  at  first,  but 
extending  year  by  year,  till,  in  place  of  graceful  woods,  the  ground  is 
covered  with  unsightly  sheds  and  buildings,  and  tlie  rapids  above  are 
disfigured  by  wing-dams  and  ice-barriers;  the  whole  group  forming  a 
shocking  contrast  to  the  natural  scenery.  This  paper-mill  is,  however, 
only  one  among  the  many  abominations  which  mar  the  beauty  of  the 
American  Rapids.  Their  eastern  bank  was  once  rich  in  verdure,  and 
overhung  with  stately  trees.  In  place  of  the  pebbly  shore,  the  grace- 
ful ferns,  and  trailing  vines  of  former  days,  one  now  sees  a  blank 
stone  wall  with  sewer-like  openings,  through  which  tail-races  dis- 
charge; some  timber  crib-work,  bearing  in  capitals  a  foot  high  the 
inscription,  'Parker's  Ilair  Balsam;'  then,  further  up  stream,  more 
walls  and  wing-dams.  Overlooking  this  disfigured  river  brink  stands 
an  unsightly  rank  of  buildings  in  all  stages  of  preservation  aud  decay; 
small  '  hotels,'  mills,  carpeiiter  shops,  stables,  '  bazaars,'  ice-houses, 
laundries  with  clothes  hanging  out  to  dry,  bath-houses,  large,  glaring 
white  hotels,  and  an  indescribable  assortment  of  miscellaneous  rook- 
eries, fences,  and  patent-medicine  signs,  which  add  an  clcniciit  of  ruin 
and  confusion  to  the  impression  of  solid  ugliness  given  by  the  better 
class  of  buildings.  And  all  this  is  the  background  to  one  of  the 
grandest  spectacles  in  the  wcrl^,  —  the  rapids  of  a  mighty  torrent 
writhing  and  foaming  in  the  fury  of  its  downward  rush.  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  visitors  do  not  desire  to  remain  long  in  the  presence  of 
such  discords,  but,  when  the  first  feehng  of  curiosity  is  satisfied,  hasten 
away  ?  In  looking  at  the  Falls  from  Goat  Island  or  the  Canada  side, 
one  cannot  help  seeing  these  rows  of  buildings  which  line  the  village 


^  11 


■■;  n 


'  »J 


k\ 


'  i\ 


2-1 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


shore  of  the  river.  Only  one  spot  invites  the  eye  to  rest  on  its  green 
trees.  This  is  Prospect  Park,  at  the  east  end  of  the  American  Falls. 
But  even  here  the  hand  of  the  progressive  owner  has  torn  away  the 
shrubs  and  rich  masses  of  woodbine  that  clustered  along  the  edge  of 
the  precipice,  and  in  their  place  are  seen  walls  and  structures  sup- 
posed to  be  for  the  safety  and  entertainment  of  travellers.  The  Falls 
themselves  uiau  cannot  touch;  but  he  is  fast  destroying  their  beauti- 
ful frame  of  foliage,  and  throwing  around  them  an  artificial  setting  of 
manufactories  and  bazaars  that  rouse  in  the  intelligent  visitor  deep 
feelings  of  regret,  and  even  of  resentment." 

It  will  be  observed  that,  in  all  that  I  write  of  this  subject, 
tlie  point  of  view  is  the  conviction  tliat  for  all  tlie  disfigure- 
ment and  destruction  of  the  lovely  scenery  here  that  has  yet 
taken  place,  little  if  any  blame  rests  upon  the  owners  of  the 
land,  or,  indeed,  upon  anybody ;  or,  if  anybody  is  really  culpa- 
ble, the  fact  is  a  barren  one,  and  nothing  can  come  of  insisting 
upon  it.  The  gradual,  ever-advancing,  total  ruin  of  Niagara  is 
inevitable,  if  the  private,  personal  ownership  of  the  lands  under 
consideration  is  to  continue.  Under  no  possible  circumstances 
could  this  ruin  be  prevented  and  the  permanent  preservation  of 
the  scenery  be  secured,  without  the  extinguishment  of  the  titles 
by  which  the  ownership  of  these  lands  is  now  vested  in  individ- 
uals, and  the  conversion  of  this  small  territory  into  a  public 
domain  and  trust.  There  are  various  things  worth  attention 
here,  in  their  relations  to  national  civilization  and  the  wisdom 
and  happiness  of  the  American  people ;  but  when  regarded  in- 
telligently and  seriously,  they  all  converge  to  this  conclusion. 


GOAT   ISLAND   TO  BE    SOLD. 

I  am  infoiTnod  that  the  youngest  heir  to  the  estate  of  which 
Goat  Island  is  a  part  will  be  of  age  in  less  than  two  years  from 
this  time,  and  that  steps  will  then  at  once  be  taken  for  the  sale 
of  this  property.  We  already  owe  much  to  the  Porter  family 
for  having  so  long  resisted  all  effor+s  to  purchase  the  island  for 
jiurjioses  of  perversion  and  destruction,  but  their  guardianship 
over  this  magnificent  piece  of  primeval  forest  cannot  be  much 
longer  continued.  The  sale  of  the  island  will  soon  become  a 
nece.ssity.    There  was  much  talk  here  a  few  years  ago,  as  well 


i'  (I 


i'  < 


NIAGARA  FALLS. 


25 


as  in  Buffalo  and  in  New  York  City,  of  building  a  great  summer 
hotel  on  the  island,  with  bowling-alleys,  a  rifle  range,  and  vari- 
ous means  of  amusement  for  visitors.  But  solid,  practical  busi- 
ness judgment  is  now  in  the  ascendant  here,  and  people  begin 
to  see  pretty  clearly  that,  as  the  woods  are  cut  away,  and  tlie 
scenery  disfigured  and  ruined,  the  number  of  visitors  to  Niag- 
ara diminishes ;  and  that  if  Goat  Island  were  dismantled  of  its 
beautiful  trees,  and  its  ruin  completed  by  the  erection  of  a 
mammoth  hotel  and  api)liances  for  popular  amusement,  the  real 
attractions  of  the  place  would  be  destroyed,  and  nobody  would 
come  to  be  entertained  or  amused.  The  value  of  hotel  prop- 
erty here  is  likely  to  suffer  serious  decline  unless  something 
effective  is  done  to  save  Xiagara,  and  it  is  not  probable  that 
new  investments  of  any  great  magnitude  will  be  made  in  en- 
terprises of  this  class.  When  Goat  Island  is  sold,  if  it  docs  not 
become  the  property  of  the  State,  it  is  likely  to  be  purchased 
for  manufacturing  j^urposes.  Regarded  without  reference  to  its 
value  for  the  high  uses  of  beauty,  or  its  worth  to  the  intellec- 
tual and  spiritual  side  of  man's  nature,  the  island  furnishes  a 
convenient  site  for  the  greatest  factory  in  the  world.  Once  do- 
voted  to  industrial  uses,  there  Avould  be  no  reason  whatever 
why  it  should  not  be  completely  covered  with  mills  and  shops 
and  the  canals  and  race-ways  supplying  them  with  water.  In 
my  first  letter  I  observed  that  Niagara  would  not  be  what  it  is 
now  if  it  rolled  through  a  bare,  brown  desert  of  stone ;  let  us 
extend  the  terms  of  the  statement  a  little,  and  say  that  it  will 
not  help  the  matter  in  the  least,  so  far  as  beauty  is  concerned, 
if  we  pile  the  stone  into  gigantic  mills  and  manufactories. 


2G 


NIAGARA  FALLS. 


IV. 


[From  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  Aug.  29,  18S2.] 

THE  CHEAP  EXCURSIONS  —  CHARACTER  AND  MANNERS  OF 
THE  EXCURSIONISTS  — IMPENDING  RUIN  OF  NIAGARA  — 
THE   DUTY   OF  THE   STATE. 


',        ' 


Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  25,  1882. 

I  HAVE  been  engaged  for  several  weeks  this  summer  in  study- 
ing American  civilization  and  manners  as  they  are  observable 
in  the  appearance  and  deportment  of  visitors  and  excursionists 
at  Niagara  Falls.    It  has  for  some  years  been  the  fashion  to 
lament   the   growth,  to   the  enormous  proportions   they  have 
attained,  of  cheap  excursions  to  the  Falls.    They  now   bring 
people  hither  from  as  far  away  as  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi, 
in  great  companies  of  neighbors  and  friends  travelling  together, 
and  return  them  safely  to  their  homes,  at  so  small  a  cost  that,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  nearly  everybody  who  lives  in  the  prosperous 
"  old  West,"  or  great  interior  agricultui*al  region  of  our  country, 
can  now  aiford  to  come  to  Niagara.     The  fact  that  many  tens 
of  thousands  of  these  people  from  the  farms  and  the  rural  towns 
do  come  each  summer  is  often  spoken  of  as  something  to  be 
regretted  as  one  of  the  most  disagi-eeable  features  of  the  situa- 
tion at  Niagara.    It  is  said  that  the  presence  of  the  excursion- 
ists keeps  the  better  class  of  visitors  from  coming  hither  ;  that 
because  they  come  in  such  nvmibers  for  their  brief  stay  of  a  day, 
or  a  day  and  night,  many  persons  of  wealth,  who  would  tariy 
for  weeks  or  months  at  the  great  hotels,  now  remain  away 
altogether,  or,  if  they  come  at  all,  make  their  sojourning  but 
little  more  protracted  than  that  of  the  excursionists.    This  is 
the  view  of  some  hotel-keepers,  and  of  some  persons  who  write 
pleasant  and  entertaining  letters  from  the  Falls  to  the  news- 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


27 


papers.  It  is  unrloubtedly  true  that  the  number  of  visitors  who 
remain  for  a  considerable  time  has  greatly  diminished  within  a 
few  years,  and  that  this  is,  in  varior.a  ways,  to  many  persons, 
a  very  serious  matter.  But,  after  much  observation  of  the 
facts  and  conditions  of  the  situation  hero,  I  incline  to  the  opin- 
ion that  we  must  look  in  other  directions  I'or  the  principal 
causes  of  this  diminution.  I  do  not  think  that  many  people 
who  wish  to  come  here  are  kept  away  by  the  excursionists. 
Why  should  they  be  ?  I  have  seen  nearly  every  excursion  that 
has  come  to  Niagara  this  summer,  and  have  gone  about  the 
place  with  the  people,  observing  their  proceedings  and  charac- 
teristics as  thoroughly  as  possible.  They  are  often  described 
as  "rough  people,"  as  "crowds  of  free-and-easy  men  and 
women,"  and  their  presence  here  is  spoken  of  as  "  offensive," 
and  as  one  of  the  "  vulgarities  "  of  the  place. 


CONDUCT   OF   EXCUKSIONISTS. 

Much  of  this  seems  to  me  rather  a  European  than  an  Ameri- 
can view  of  the  matter.  Among  a  hundred  thousand  people 
here  this  summer  I  have  seen  little  rudeness  or  coarseness  of 
any  kind.  There  has  not  been  a  noisy  or  boisterous  company 
in  Prospect  Park,  where  all  excursionists  go.  The  records  of 
the  magistrate's  court  in  the  village  show  that  there  is  very 
little  more  disorder  here  than  if  nobody  came  to  see  the  Falls. 
A  very  great  proportion  —  by  far  the  larger  part  —  of  the  peo- 
ple who  have  come  here  in  excursions  this  summer  were 
evidently  well-bch.aved  and  reputable  members  of  their  commu- 
nities at  home.  When  we  remember  that  almost  every  excur- 
sion party  is  largely  composed  of  families  travelling  together, 
we  can  understand,  what  I  am  sure  is  the  fact,  that  the  behavior 
of  the  great  mass  of  excursionists  at  Niagara  is  about  the  same 
as  the  behavior  of  the  great  mass  of  the  well-to-do,  comfortable, 
respectable  people  of  this  country  when  they  are  at  home.  The 
worst  thing  I  have  observed  in  the  conduct  or  manners  of  visi- 
tors of  this  class  is  their  habit  of  walking  about  in  the  town  live 
or  six  abreast,  so  as  to  crowd  people  into  the  gutters  from  even 
the  very  broad  sidewalks  of  the  vill.age.  A  company  of  young 
men  from  the  country  seemed  much  surprised  when  I  refused  to 


'!    \i- 


if 


28 


NIAGARA  FALLS. 


turn  out,  and  thus  halted  the  entire  band  of  them  as  they  were 
walking  with  "  locked  arms."  I  explained  that  the  jieople  of 
the  town  were,  equally  with  themselves,  entitled  to  the  use  of 
the  sidewalk.  They  apologized,  and  broke  into  couples.  Their 
fault  probably  resulted  from  thoughtlessness. 

The  excursionists  arc  criticised  for  dancing  boisterously  with- 
in siiiht  of  the  cataract  and  within  hearinuj  of  its  solemn  roar. 
As  to  boisterous  dancing,  I  can  only  say  that  I  have  each  week 
attended  the  "hops"  at  the  principal   hotels,  which  are  con- 
ducted by  the  guests,  people  of  the  highest  social  position  and 
character,  and  have  also  looked  on  at  all  the  dances  in  Prospect 
Park,  and  there  were  only  very  slight  differences  observable 
in  the  nianners  of  the  people  at  the  different  entertainments. 
Young  people  cannot  sit  in  silence  gazing  at  the  Falls,  through 
all  of  a  long  summer  day,  thinking  of  aisthetic  sublimities,  or 
communing  with  the  Absolute  and  Infinite.     I  saw  one  excur- 
sion which  was  largely  made  np  of  school-teachers  from  Ohio, 
Indiana,  and  Illinois.     I  talked  with  some  of  these,  and  found 
that  a  good  many  of  them  come  every  year.    I  was  interested 
in  learning  how  they  regarded  the  place  and  its  attractions  and 
opportunities.     One  woman  who  is  growing  old  in  teaching  in 
the  same  country  neighborhood  in  Western  Ohio  said  she  had 
been  hero  every  year  since  the  cheap  excursions  were  arranged. 
"  It  is  a  great  blessing  to  many  teachers,"  she  went  on,  "  and 
to  other  people,  of  course,  that  they  can  come  here  at  such 
slight  expense.     If  we  had  to  pay  the  regular  fare  we  could  not 
come  at  all.    This  is  my  one  holiday  for  the  year,  the  oidy 
indulgence  I  can  afford,  and  though  I  live  so  far  away,  Niagara 
is  a  great  deal  to  me.    I  do  not  see  how  I  could  live  without 
it."     This  all  seemed  reasonable  enough,  but  I  was  a  little  sur- 
prised when  she  said  that  she  read  everything  she  saw  relating 
to  Niagara.     I  found  that  she  had  followed  very  intelligently 
the  newspaper  discussions  regarding  the  progressive  destruction 
of  the  scenery  here,  and  the  need  of  some  interposition  to  save 
what  remains.     She  said,  "  The  newspapers  say  that   the  col- 
ored lights  are  thrown  on  the  Falls  to  please  us  excursionists, 
but  they  need  take  no  such  pains  for  us.     I   am  sure  all  intelli- 
gent people  feel  disgusted  and  indignant  at  the  sight." 


h 


NIAGARA  FALLS. 


29 


LOCAL  OFFENCES. 

I  think  we  should  rejoice  that  it  is  possible  for  the  people  of 
our  country  to  come  in  such  multitudes  and  from  so  great  dis- 
tances to  enjoy  this  wonderful  spectacle  of  Niagara;  and  if  they 
could  be  loft  to  the  natural  influences  of  the  scenery,  all  would 
be  well.  The  excursionists  do  not  bring  with  them  the  vulgari- 
ties and  impertinences  which  make  the  place  disagreeable  to 
intelligent  persons.  These  offences  against  good  taste  are  es- 
tablished and  maintained  here  in  the  rivalry  of  the  proprietors 
of  the  different  points  of  approach  to  the  river.  This  competi- 
tion develops  more  and  more  sensational  and  vulgar  efforts  to 
attract  sight-seers.  Such  shows  help  to  corrupt  the  public 
taste,  doubtless,  but  it  is  not  fair  to  say  that  the  popular  taste 
produces  or  requires  them.  They  all  result  from  the  private 
ownership  of  the  land  at  all  the  points  from  which  the  river  or 
the  Falls  can  be  seen,  and  no  essential  reform  or  improvement 
in  these  repects  is  possible  while  this  continues. 

SHOP-GIRLS    AND   CUSTOMERS. 

For  some  of  the  "  annoyances  "  of  which  visitors  to  Niagara 
complain  they  are  themselves  often  chiefly  responsible.  Tims 
the  young  women  at  the  "  Indian  stores  "  and  bazaars  are  blamed 
for  inviting  passers-by  to  come  inside.  But  they  do  so  because 
strangei*s  stop  at  the  tables  or  show-cases  outside  and  examine 
or  handle  the  goods.  If  people  will  proceed  directly  upon  their 
errands,  and  not  themselves  invite  the  attentions  of  the  shop- 
girls, I  think  they  will  never  be  asked  to  enter  a  shop  or  to  buy 
anything.  But  most  visitors  appear  to  regard  the  shops  as 
museums,  or  places  for  the  free  exhibition  of  "  curiosities,"  merely 
for  the  entertainment  of  strangers,  and  many,  even  of  the  "  car- 
riage people,"  manifest  greater  interest  in  looking  at  the  queer 
goods  in  the  bazaars  than  in  seeing  the  Falls,  or  any  part  of  the 
wonderful  scenery  here.  A  few  evenings  ago  I  was  observing 
the  movements  and  characteristics  of  a  crowd  of  people  in  one 
of  the  largest  of  these  places,  when  a  well-dressed  young  man 
entered  and  began  a  tour  of  the  store.  One  of  the  young  women 
advanced,  and  courteously  asked  if  he  wished  to  look  at  any 


II 


30 


NIAGARA  FALLS. 


particular  class  of  goocls.  She  accompanied  him  to  every  show- 
case in  tlic  room,  exhibiting  the  goocls,  and  replying  to  his  con- 
stant questioning.  He  occupied  more  than  half  an  hour  in  this 
inspection,  and  bought  nothing;  and  I  noted,  as  lie  passed  me 
in  going  out,  that  he  did  not  even  thank  the  young  woman,  or 
in  any  way  acknowledge  the  patient  courtesy  of  which  he  had 
been  the  object.  After  much  observation  in  these  places  it 
seems  to  nie  not  entirely  just  to  apply  the  term  "  low  "  to  the 
shop-girls  here.  Most  of  them  live  here,  and  many  are  mem- 
bers of  the  churches  of  the  village,  and  are  regarded  by  those 
who  have  the  best  opj)ortunities  for  knowing  them  as  young 
women  of  good  character.  No  one  Avho  comes  hither  to  enjoy 
the  scenery  need  be  in  fear  of  annoyance  at  the  hands  of  the 
shop-girls. 

GOOD   AND   BAD   MANXEKS. 

Most  of  the  impressions  derived  from  my  observation  of 
American  manners,  character,  and  civilization  at  Niagara,  are 
favorable  and  encouramncc  rather  than  otherwise.  There  are 
some  exceptions,  of  course.  There  is  often  room  for  consider- 
able imjirovement  in  manners.  I  saw  in  Prospect  Park  a  coarse 
fellow,  with  grimy  hands  and  clothing,  serving  a  ])arty  of  young 
girls  with  ice-cream  Avhile  he  smoked  a  cheap  cigar  and  puffed 
the  smoke  in  their  faces.  The  crowds  are,  in  general,  wonder- 
fully well-behaved.  One  thing,  which  is,  as  I  am  told,  in  large 
degree  peculiar  to  America,  is  most  gratifying  here  and  else- 
where, —  that  is,  the  behavior  of  young  men  and  Avomen  when 
together.  It  is  somewhat  common  of  late  to  hear  our  customs 
and  methods  of  social  life  in  this  particular  respect  compared 
with  those  of  European  countries  in  a  manner  unfavorable  to 
our  habits  and  character.  But  the  great  mass  of  American 
young  men  care  more  for  the  society,  or  "company,"  of  the 
young  women  of  their  acquaintance  than  they  do  for  lascivious 
pleasures,  and  the  young  women  are  far  more  secure  from  evil 
than  they  would  be  if  European  ideas  of  the  relations  between 
the  sexes  were  generally  adopted  by  our  people. 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


81 


THE   REAL   CAUSE    OP   NIAGARA'S   DECLINE. 

I  SCO  two  classes  of  fivcts  at  Niagara.  There  is  abundant 
proof  that  there  is  a  hirge  class  or  luunbor  of  i)eople  in  our 
country  who  feel  the  charm  and  worth  of  beautiful  scenery,  and 
who  find  great  delight  and  refreshment  in  the  natural  loveliness 
and  grandeur  peculiar  to  this  place.  Each  year  people  of  this 
class  are  less  and  less  inclined  to  visit  Niagara,  and  their  aver- 
sion is  due  to  the  increasing  disfigurement  and  destruction  of 
the  scenery.  The  desolation  and  ugliness  through  which  one 
must  now  pass  to  reach  Goat  Island,  and  all  the  best  places 
from  which  to  see  the  Falls,  repel  far  more  of  the  better  class 
of  visitors  than  are  kept  away  by  the  i)resence  of  the  excur- 
sionists. It  may,  or  may  not,  be  strange,  but  it  appears  to  be 
true,  that  the  people  who  are  interested  in  "  commercial  enter- 
prises "  near  the  Falls  have  no  feeling  for  beauty,  and  some  ot 
them  appear  to  have  a  morbid  and  horrible  delight  in  littered 
and  disorderly  ugliness.  This  belongs  to  the  saddening,  dis- 
couraging class  of  facts  respecting  our  national  character  and 
feeling.  "We  have  multitudes  of  peojile  who  cut  and  destroy 
the  finest  trees  and  shrubs  about  the  Falls  (the  excursionists 
are  not  worse  than  other  visitors),  and  who  cut  up  and  pull  to 
pieces,  whenever  it  is  possible,  the  seats  and  railings  provided 
for  their  pleasure  and  safety.  At  many  points  on  Goat  Island 
from  which  good  views  can  be  obtained  comfortable  seats  fur- 
nish opportunity  for  rest.  Each  one  must  be  constructed  of 
heavy  timber,  and  have  an  iron  rod  attached,  which  holds  it  to 
a  broad  foot,  or  anchor,  many  feet  underground,  or  it  would  be 
torn  up  and  thrown  into  the  river.  Well-dressed  "  ladies " 
stand  by  and  applaud  Avhile  the  "gentlemen  "  of  their  party  do 
these  things.  In  what  schools,  Sunday  schools,  and  churches, 
are  these  people  educated,  and  what  is  the  nature  of  the  instruc- 
tion by  which  their  character  is  formed  ? 

The  danger  of  complete  extinction,  which  now  menaces  all 
Niagara's  natural  loveliness,  arises  primarily  from  the  fact  that 
we  have,  in  our  national  character,  so  little  feeling  or  regard 
for  beauty,  or  for  anything  beautiful.  Those  who  find  refresh- 
ment, delight,  and  spiritual  sustenance  in  beauty  of  any  kind 


i 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


are  comparatively  so  few  that  tlicy  have  little  influenco,  and 
they  do  not  constitute  a  class ;  thoy  have  no  voice,  no  aim,  no 
co-operation.  Doubtless,  if  evt-n  the  few  cared  enough  for  such 
spiritual  verities,  they  wouM  find  some  means  for  the  propaga- 
tion of  their  faith  in  them.  The  masses  in  our  well-to-do  de- 
mocracy feel  no  discomfort  from  hideous  ugliness  and  vulgarity 
in  the  objects  and  scenery  around  them  at  home.  Our  wealtliy 
manufacturers  buy  costly  pictures  which  they  do  not  understand, 
while  the  village  sites  which  they  own,  and  the  grounds  around 
their  mills  and  tenement-houses,  are  arid  wastes  of  litter,  filth, 
and  squalor.  Even  dealers  in  flower-seeds  in  our  country  choose 
to  f.dvertise  their  business  by  means  of  repulsive  pictures.  There 
is  an  enonnous  popular  appetite  for  things  grotesque,  monstrous, 
and  vulgar,  for  thorough,  debasing  ugliness.  Our  young  people 
are  being  taught  to  enjoy  comic  lives  of  the  world's  saints  and 
heroes.  We  behold,  without  remonstrance  or  regret,  the  de- 
struction of  sylvan  scenery  of  exquisite  loveliness  along  the 
streams  of  the  Adirondack  region,  wrought  for  the  sake  of 
making  those  wildwood  river-channels  navigable  for  vulgar  and 
wholly  unnecessary  little  steamboats.  (They  are  vulgar  be- 
cause they  are  wholly  unnecessary  and  out  of  place.) 

I  observe  that  it  is  common  to  say  of  the  Falls  that  they  have 
an  eternal  beauty  which  man  cannot  destroy,  and  that  whatever 
may  be  done  by  capitalists  and  manufacturers,  Niagara  will  bo 
"  a  joy  forever,"  etc.  The  truth  is  that  manufacturers  and  iiapi- 
talists  can  wholly  destroy  the  beauty  of  the  Falls,  and  they  are 
likely  to  do  so,  and  to  make  the  place  one  in  which  no  human 
being  can  ever  feel  joy  again.  Another  misconception  is  the 
notion  that  the  people  here  have  so  impaired  their  property, 
and  lowered  its  value,  that  they  are  now  anxious  to  have  the 
State,  or  the  country,  take  it  off  their  hands,  paying  them  a 
good  price  for  it,  and  that  they  are  likely,  by  and  by,  to 
"  beg  to  sell  out."  Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  truth. 
The  value  of  the  land  here  is  increasing  year  by  year,  and 
what  threatens  the  final  destruction  of  Niagara  is  the  fact 
that  the  very  land  which  is  essential  to  the  beauty  here  has 
become  so  valuable  for  manufacturing  purposes  that  the  present 
owners  cannot  afford  to  keep  it  for  the  sake  of  the  scenery. 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


These  errors  should  bo  corrected,  and  should  not  hcreai'tcr  bo 
repeated  by  journals  of  character  and  influence. 

If  the  people  of  the  State  of  New  York  shall  decree  the  pur- 
chase and  preservation  of  Niagara,  it  will  be  an  important  step 
in  its  bearing  upon  national  character  and  civilization.  It  will 
help  to  prepare  us  for  wiser  treatment  of  some  matters  of  serious 
moment  than  we  have  hitherto  been  able  to  give  them. 


84 


NlAGAliA   FALLS. 


[From  the  Boston  Advertiser^  Aug.  3,  1882.] 

THE  RESIDENTS  DESPONDENT  AT  THE  DEARTH  OF  VISIT- 
ORS  — THE  CAUSES  WHICH  HAVE  BUnUJHIT  THE  FALLS 
INTO  DISREPUTE  — A   PRACTICAL  REMEDY   SUGGESTED. 


NiAGAiu  Falls,  N.  Y.,  July  29,  1882. 

TriTc  people  of  the  town  are  despondent  this  summer.  The 
number  of  visitors  to  the  F.alls  is  much  less  than  usual,  and 
some  of  the  best  hotels  are  not  nearly  half  full.  As  most  of 
the  people  of  the  place  are  largely  or  wholly  dependent  on  its 
character  as  a  summer  resort  or  watering-] dace  for  the  means  of 
subsistence,  they  have  reason  for  feeling,  as  they  express  it, 
"  mighty  blue."  It  has,  for  the  most  part,  been  a  cool  summer 
here ;  but  when  I  refer  to  this  fact,  and  predict  a  rush  of  visitors 
on  account  of  the  wanner  weather  which  h.as  recently  begun, 
the  older  residents  shake  their  heads,  and  s.iy,  "  Yes,  we  hojio 
so ;  but  things  have  changed.  Niagara  will  never  be  what  it 
has  been  unless  something  is  done."  This  oj)inion  seems  to  bo 
well  founded.  JNIen  who  have  always  been  connected  with 
"the  Falls  business"  say  frankly  that  people  do  not  like  to 
come  here  so  well  as  formerly ;  th.at  the  special  attractions  and 
points  of  interest  have  been  multiplied  beyond  reason  ;  that 
there  are  too  many  hackmen,  too  many  "  Indian  stores,"  too 
many  hotels.     All  this  is  prob.ably  true. 

I  have  met  here  this  summer,  as  at  the  time  of  other  visits,  a 
good  many  elderly  gentlemen  who,  remembering  their  enjoy- 
ment here  "  in  the  old  times,"  as  they  phrase  it,  come  back  now 
with  their  children  and  grandchildren,  to  enjoy  the  young  peo- 
ple's surprise  at  their  first  vision  of  the  grandeur  and  beauty 
peculiar  to  the  place.    But  the  young  people  wonder  that  the 


MAG  A  HA    FALLS. 


85 


elilors  hIiouM  h:vvo  hoou  ho  much  hero,  and  tlic  t'lth-rs  thciMsolvt'a 
nro  diH!i|)jH)iutc'il  !iii«l  indigiiaut.  Thoy  laiiu'iit  lliu  loss  of  ull 
the  wiNhicss  from  the  Aim'ri(!aii  sido  of  tho  rivt'i',  the  all-pur- 
vatHiif;  itii|  crtiiit'iiou  iyf  tliu  hackmcn,  tlio  perpetual  solieitalioii 
(»f  piitronaijje  l»y  various  claHses  of  people,  and  llie  horrible  vul- 
garity of  the  eolol'td  eleetric  lights.  Many  of  iheiu  say  that 
tweiity-five  years  ago  t  was  pleasant  to  remain  hero  for  several 
weeks,  hut  now  "  one  day  and  two  nights  is  enough  ;  "  and  tlio 
younger  lolk  arc  equally  ready  to  seek  other  scenes  after  this 
brief  stay. 

I  have  also  talked  with  some  business  men  from  New  York 
City,  from  nutfalo  and  Rochester,  who  say  that  Niagara  is  really 
already  destroyed,  —  the  old  or  true  Niagara,  —  that  is,  that  its 
character  as  a  place  appealing  to  the  heart  and  imagination  by 
its  wondrous  beauty  and  grandeur  has  already  been  taken  from 
it,  and  that,  considering  the  temper  anil  character  of  tlu;  Amer- 
ican people,  and  the  tendencies  of  the  niodi'rn  world,  this  char- 
acter can  never  he  restored  to  it.  They  say,  "The  Stale  ought, 
of  course,  to  buy  it  and  preserve  it  forever,  but  it  will  not; 
or  the  National  Government  ought  to  interfere  to  stop  this 
huddling  of  Victories  and  (lung-hea))S  right  around  the  Falls. 
Something  —  anything  —  ought  to  be  done,  but  nothing  will 
be.  AVe  shall  mak(f  chtth  and  paper,  flour  and  beer  and  whis- 
key, with  this  unlimited  power,  and  the  people  who  like  to  look 
at  beautilul  things  must  go  somewhere  where  we  can't  build 
mills."  "No,"  said  one  of  the  company,  alter  remarks  like 
these,  "  the  artistic  people  can  go  over  yonder  to  the  art  gallery 
in  the  i)ark." 

Let  us  consider  some  of  the  matters  here  suggested.  Recog- 
nizing as  I  do  the  uiietpudled  value  of  Niagara  as  a  source  or 
means  of  strength,  refreshment,  and  ha|)piness  for  millions  of 
men  and  women,  and  of  elevation  and  beauty  in  our  national 
character,  and  feeling  most  deeply  interested  in  the  effort  to 
restore  and  preserve  it  for  these  high  uses,  I  am  still  of  the 
opinion  that  if  the  gro\md  about  the  Falls  were  really  needed 
for  cotton  and  })aper  mills,  or  any  other  necessary  and  produc- 
tive human  industries,  it  would  be  right  to  take  it  and  appro- 
priate and  occupy  it  for  these  objects.     We  shall  liave  a  vast 


I 


86 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


and  crowded  population  in  this  part  of  our  country  before  any 
great  time  has  ehipsed,  and  we  arc  preparing  conditions  here  in 
Anierica  under  whicli  the  mass  of  men  must,  in  large  degree, 
live  Ibr  bread  for  themselves,  and  little  beyond.  Whenever 
there  is  a  real  conllict  or  antagonism  between  economic,  business 
or  industrial  interests  on  the  one  hand,  and  ideal  or  rcsthetic 
considerations  on  the  other,  the  latter  must  give  way,  and 
rightly,  because  they  are  secondary  or  subordinate  when  com- 
pared with  the  necessities  ofpliysical  subsistence. 

But  in  this  case  of  Niagara  Falls,  and  the  question  of  its 
preservation  or  destruction,  there  is  really  no  such  antagonism 
between  practical  business  interests  and  those  whidi  are  ideal 
and  spiritual.  There  is  no  good  reason  for  "  huddling  factories 
around  the  Falls,"  —  no  need  of  it  whatever.  I  think  it  the 
idlest  thing  in  the  world  ior  anybody  who  desires  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  scenery  here  for  ideal  and  spiritual  uses  to  decry  or 
contemn  the  connnercial  spirit  or  business  energy  of  our  time, 
or  to  lament  its  application  to  this  particidar  object,  —  the  util- 
ization of  the  water-power  of  Niagara  for  manufacturing  pur- 
poses. He  is  a  ]ioor,  shallow  ])oet  or  artist  who  can  see  only 
the  poetic  or  artistic  si<le  of  things.  The  mass  of  men  must 
always  toil.  Infinite  drudgery  is  required  to  sustain  human  life 
under  the  conditions  of  civilized  society.  Millions  of  men  must 
labor  —  must  labor  honestly,  nobly,  and  happily  —  that  one  great 
poet  may  sing  their  life,  or  one  man  of  divine  genius  paint  a 
picture  of  innnortal  power  and  beauty. 

Build  the  factories,  then,  and  let  Niagara  turn  their  wheels. 
But  where  shall  the  factories  stand?  It  Avould  be  a  most 
insane  and  outrageous  thing  to  place  them  here,  amid  these 
scenes  unparalleled  on  the  planet.  It  would  be  a  wholly  wan- 
ton sacrilege,  a  profanation  unusually  culpable,  because  entirely 
unnecessary.  The  Niagara  River  above  the  Falls  lies  so  high 
above  all  the  country  below  them  that  the  water  can  be  taken 
almost  anywhere  away  irom  the  river  channel.  Only  a  very 
small  region  immediately  adjacent  to  the  cataract  and  the  rap- 
ids, with  the  islands  in  the  river, — this  is  all  that  is  required 
to  make  this  place,  or  keep  it  what  nature  made  it,  a  place  en- 
dowed, as  no  other  place  on  the  globe  is  endowed,  with  qualities 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


37 


suitcfl  to  refresh,  elevate,  and  gladden  the  mind  and  heart  of 
civilized  man  forever.  It  is  a  sad  error  and  wrong  that  this 
small  territory,  Avhich  includes  all  that  is  essential  to  Niagara, — 
all  its  wild  grace  and  ineffable  charm,  —  should  be  held  by  any 
private  or  individual  ownership.  It  should  be  the  ])roperty  of 
the  State,  the  possession  of  the  people,  and  should  be  held 
in  trust  and  cared  for  by  the  government.  All  its  wealth  of 
beauty  and  of  high  uses  should  be  accessible  to  the  poorest 
children  of  toil  who  may,  by  wise  forethought  or  sell-denying 
frugality,  save  from  the  price  of  their  labor  the  means  tor  a  pil- 
grimage to  this  shrine  of  ideal  and  spiritual  reality. 

For  we  must  have  something  besides  fiotories,  and  turbine 
wheels,  and  supply  and  demand,  and  daily  toil  for  daily  bread, 
even  for  the  toiler  himself,  so  that  he  may  have  "a  daily  beauty 
in  his  life,"  to  use  Shakespeare's  phrase.  You  see,  gentlemen 
capitalists  and  manufacturers,  the  laborer  must  toil  happibj,  or 
you  may  all  come  to  grief  together,  and  capital  must  supply  and 
maintain  the  conditions  of  beauty  and  happiness  for  him. 
Labor,  directed  and  ennobled  by  the  ideal,  moral,  or  spiritual 
element,  creates  everything;  but  a  democratic  civilization,  based 
on  the  labor  of  a  class  of  serfs  of  the  mine  and  the  mill,  whose 
toil  is  unwilling,  degraded,  and  faithless,  would  not  be  likely  to 
endure  long  in  a  world  where  the  deepest  meaning  of  every- 
thing is  moral. 

Let  us  have  a  great  city  of  factories,  sustained  by  the  water- 
power  of  Niagara.  We  are  destined  to  have  it.  It  is  entirely 
right  that  this  immense  endowment  of  mechanical  forces  for  the 
use  of  mankind  should  be  employed  to  supply  their  physical 
wants.  Only  let  us  have  the  mills  a  little  at  one  side;  not  just 
here  at  the  Falls.  There  are  quite  as  good  and  even  better 
sites  for  them  a  little  farther  away.  Put  them  far  enough  back 
from  the  Falls  and  the  rapids  to  give  room  for  a  screen  of  trees 
between,  —  far  enough  for  the  distance  to  soften  the  clangor  of 
steam  whistles,  so  that  on  Sunday,  or  (as  1  observe  that  many 
laborers  in  New  England  mills  have  to  work  on  Sunday)  at 
least  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  the  toiler  of  the  factory  may  come 
to  the  Falls,  and,  looking  upon  their  grandeur  and  noble  purity, 
undefiled  by  tawdry  electric  lights,  or  watching  the  wild  play 


II 


38 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


of  the  rapids,  or  wandering  amid  the  solitudes  of  "  the  forest 
primeval  "  on  Goat  Island,  may  feel  that  he  has  a  soul,  and  is 
not  a  mere  driven  beast  of  burden,  and  that  he  has  a  country 
wbich  cares  for  liim  as  one  of  the  great  brotherhood  of  her 
cliildren. 

All  this  may  be  realized  if  the  plan  for  the  purchase  by  the 
State  of  the  land  immediately  contiguous  to  the  Falls  is  taken 
up  and  carried  forward  by  the  men  foremost  for  business  abil- 
ity, intelligence,  and  patriotism  in  the  State  of  New  York.  But 
there  is  need  for  earnest  and  prompt  action  on  their  part.  Al- 
ready there  are  mills  and  factories  of  various  kinds  where  no 
factory  or  shoj)  should  ever  have  been  built.  Some  of  these  are 
being  enlarged.  One  beautiful  island  has  been  entirely  de- 
stroyed for  all  purposes  of  beauty  of  scenery.  Others  are 
threatened  by  the  same  destiny.  The  river  bank  along  the 
whole  extent  of  the  American  rapids  has  been  denuded  of  the 
beautiful  forest  growth  of  trees  and  vines  which  formerly  gave 
it  such  loveliness,  and  is  now  disfigured  by  a  long  array  of  un- 
sightly buildings,  —  mills,  sheds,  houses,  barns,  etc. 

A  strip  of  land  about  a  hundred  feet  wide  here,  broadening 
to  some  eight  hundred  or  a  thousand  feet  in  width  around  the 
American  side  of  the  Prills,  —  this,  with  Goat  Island  and  the 
other  islands  in  the  river,  forms  the  extent  of  the  proposed  res- 
ervation. Many  peojile  iiere  appear  eager  to  have  the  State 
(Obtain  control  of  the  Falls,  believing  that  such  a  change  would 
be  of  great  benefit  to  all  the  interests  of  the  town.  Knowing 
that  many  sous  of  the  Old  Bay  State  are  now  business  men  in 
tho  city  and  State  of  New  York,  I  send  this  notice  of  aifairs 
here  to  the  readers  of  the  "  Advertiser," 


t 


NIAGARA  FALLS. 

89                           ! 

'the  forest 

! 

^onl,  and  is 

1 

a  country 

nod  of  her 

lase  by  the 
lis  is  taken 

VI. 

siness  abil- 
Yoik.     But 

IFrom  the  New  York  Tribune,  Aug.  23,  1882.] 

'  part.     Al- 
3  -Nvhcre  no 

AN  INLAND   RESORT. 

of  these  are 
■ntircly   de- 
Others  are 

NIAGARA  FALLS:    THEIR  TRUE  INFLUENCE,   ROWER, 
SPIRIT,  AND   THEIR  IMPENDING  RUIN. 

AND 

\i  aloncc  the 
ided  of  the 
rmerly  gave 
array  of  un- 

broadening 
around  the 
ind  and  the 
roposed  res- 
e  the  State 
lange  would 
.  Knowing 
less  men  in 
ce  of  affairs 


Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  21,  1882. 

OxE  of  the  positions  where  one  seems  to  approach  nearest  to 
the  very  seat  and  throne  of  the  grandeur  of  this  place  is  at  the 
end  of  the  bridge  or  platform  at  the  west  side  of  Goat  Island, 
which  extends  for  some  distance  over  the  waters  of  the  Great 
or  Horseshoe  Fall.  This  affords  the  most  perfect  view  of  the 
central  portions  of  the  great  cataract.  It  is  perhaps  the  place 
at  which  one  should  linger  longest.  The  soul  of  Niagara  is 
there,  visible  yet  elusive,  revealed  fitfully,  Avith  features  and 
elements  which  are  essential  to  natural  scenes  of  the  very  highest 
order  of  interest  and  wonderfulness.  The  awful  beauty  of  the 
water  in  the  deeper  portions  o''  the  current,  as  it  rolls  over  the 
brow  of  the  precipice;  its  strange  and  indescribably  impressive 
color;  the  apparent  slowness  of  its  calm  motion  in  the  first  few 
yards  of  its  downward  course,  which  somehow  seems  an  image 
or  actual  revelation  of  eternity,  —  these  things  make  one  feel  as 
if  he  ouidit  not  to  come  to  the  place  too  often,  as  if  on  some 
days,  or  in  some  moods,  he  ought  not  to  come  at  all. 

Then  there  is  another  feature  of  marvellous  beauty  and  at- 
tractive, engaging  interest  here.  I  can  only  indicate,  not  de- 
scribe, its  character.  From  the  centre  of  the  Great  Fall,  or 
extreme  upper  part  of  the  curve  (which  has  of  late  years  been 
cut  so  far  back  by  the  current  that  it  now  bears  little  real  resem- 


40 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


t 


bianco  to  the  form  of  a  horseshoe),  there  arises  a  peculiar  tlis- 
play  of  mist,  or  white  vapor,  produced  by  the  concussion  of  the 
water  against  the  rocks  below.  If  this  were  constant  in  char- 
acter, or  of  unilbrni  appearance,  it  miglit  be  beautiful,  perhaps  ; 
but  it  could  not  have  the  strange  power  of  fascination  which  it 
now  possesses,  —  the  power  to  hold  one  watching  for  hours  its 
fitful,  irregular,  always  startling  returns,  and  to  beckon  and 
draw  him  back  from  distant  lands  to  seek  the  same  spot  and 
yield  himself  again  to  the  spell.  From  the  gulf  below,  at  this 
heart  of  the  Great  Fall,  there  arises  now  and  then  what  may  be 
described  as  a  great  upward  explosion  of  the  mist,  reminding 
one  of  the  play  of  volcanic  forces  or  the  spouting  of  an  enor- 
mous geyser.  A  great  column  <jf  white  vapor  is  suddenly  shot 
upward,  far  above  the  top  of  the  fall.  The  explosive  force  still 
seems  to  be  at  play  in  the  heart  of  it  as  it  rises,  and  with  a 
swid  flashing  motion  the  top  of  the  column  expands  on  every 
side,  forming  a  mighty  don^e,  which  for  the  time  of  one  quick 
glance  sometimes  looks  like  solid  marble,  but  is  in  a  moment  all 
unbuilt  and  dissolved  again.  At  other  times  the  freakish  wind 
leaps  at  the  column  as  it  reaches  its  greatest  height,  and  drives 
and  scatters  it  all  abroad  in  strange  forms,  that  seem  almost  to 
have  meaning  and  purpose. 

A  little  farther  east  than  this  is  a  place  at  which  slender 
jets  of  water  and  spray  are  projected  perpendicularly  to  a  great 
height.  Sometimes  a  great  number  of  these  appear,  springing 
upward,  side  by  side,  slightly  unequal  in  altitude,  and  looking, 
"for  one  transcendent  moment,"  just  before  they  begin  to  waver 
and  sink,  not  domelike,  but  like  a  great  cluster  of  delicate  Gothic 
spires  or  pinnacles.  The  background  of  the  picture  of  which 
these  mist  projections  and  creations  form  the  centre,  is,  on  the 
right,  the  face  of  the  western  side  of  the  Great  Fall ;  on  the 
left  it  is  the  breadth  of  the  river  above,  filled  from  shore  to 
shore,  and  to  the  sky-line  in  the  distance,  by  the  glad,  eager 
dance,  and  hun-ying,  wanton  rush  of  the  rapids.  Here,  if  any- 
where, one  can  forget  the  burden  of  care,  of  "  greetings  where 
no  kindness  is,"  and  the  inevitable  vulgarities  of  the  struggle 
for  the  survival  of  tlie  strongest.  It  seems  as  if  one  had  been 
admitted  to  the  primal  home  of  the  forces  which  made  the 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


41 


world  and  can  unmake  it  again,  and  had  found  thorn  in  full 

.  play- 

Another  scene  of  perfect,  unsurpassable  grace  and  power, 
displayed  in  forms  wholly  unlike  those  I  have  just  described,  is 
the  region  at  the  head  of  Goat  Island,  including  the  many  small 
islands  there,  and  the  swift,  arrowy  currents  dividing  them, 
with  the  Avide  expanse  of  plunging,  rock-tormented  water  be- 
yond. In  places  the  river  is  as  rough  as  a  storm-swept  sea. 
But  the  manifestation  of  power  here  is  not  greater  than  that  of 
beauty.  The  scene  is  full  of  grace  and  delicacy,  of  influences 
most  jjotent  to  soothe  and  gladden  and  refresh  the  spirit  of 
man.  It  is  fitted,  in  a  remarkable  degree,  to  inspire,  "  vital 
feelings  of  delight."  This  upper  end  of  Goat  Island  is  probably, 
for  most  people,  the  best  of  Niagara.  It  is  not  likely  that  there 
is  anywhere  else  on  the  globe  so  much  beauty  and  interest  of 
the  very  highest  character  and  variety,  displayed  in  a  region  so 
small  as  this.  All  the  conditions  appear  to  be  perfect,  and  for 
the  higher  uses  of  the  human  spirit  the  scenery  is  of  inestimable 
worth.  If,  now,  people  could  be  brought  to  think  a  little,  so  as 
to  understand  what  is  most  essential  in  the  conditions  and  ele- 
ments which  constitute  this  perfect  charm  and  loveliness,  it 
would  be  well  for  them ;  they  would  regard  their  possession  in 
this  unparalleled  landscape  with  deep  and  passionate  delight, 
instead  of  the  languid,  superficial  interest,  scarcely  above  in- 
difference, with  which  they  now  usually  thiidc  of  it,  at  least 
when  they  are  not  here.  What  then  is  it  that  gives  its  peculiar 
potency  to  the  a])peal  which  nature  here  makes  to  the  heart 
and  imagination  of  man?  The  water — the  river  —  is  not  the 
whole  of  it.  This  alone,  or  in  association  with  masses  of  bare 
rock  of  the  same  size  and  form  with  tlie  islands,  Avould  not  be 
especially  beautiful.  The  spiritual  power  and  grace  of  the 
scene,  its  peculiar  and  delicate  charm  and  delightfulncss,  would 
be  wholly  destroyed  if  the  trees  and  shrubs  and  vines  which 
now  cover  the  islands  with  the  glory  of  their  foliage  were  re- 
moved. There  is  a  natural  congruity  and  harmony  between 
the  forms  and  appearances  of  swiftly  tossing  waters,  with  their 
bright,  glancing  rush  and  passionate  dance,  and  the  forms  of 
the  native  vegetation  as  nature  shapes  them.      One  soul  of 

6 


I 


42 


NIAOARA   FALLS. 


) 


il 


S  J 


grandeuv  ancl  beauty  pervades  these  gigantic  trees  (which  Ptoocl 
licre,  extending  tlicir  bouglis  abroad  in  the  sweet  air  and  light, 
before  our  nation's  liistory  began),  with  the  umbrageous  tliickets 
and  festooning  vines  which  crowd  around  tlieir  feet,  and  the 
broad  and  generous  waters  which  nourish  and  sustain  them  all. 
The  river,  with  the  loveliness  of  its  dividing  flow,  and  the 
mighty  trees,  with  their  masses  of  draping  foliage,  belong  to- 
gether, and  together  they  build  and  perpetuate  the  surpassing 
beauty  and  wonder  of  the  scene,  creating  it  anew  each  year 
Ibrever.  If  the  trees  were  removed,  the  scenery  here,  with  all 
its  peculiar  interest  and  beauty,  would  be  entirely  and  irre- 
trievably ruined. 

The  trees  with  their  foliage  form  gi'cen  barriers  and  leafy 
screens,  cool  arbors  and  entrancing  vistas,  and  the  imagination 
is  quickened  and  exalted  as  the  eye  is  caught  by  the  white 
gleam  of  the  free  streams  flashing  through  the  natural,  irregular 
ojtenings  in  the  green  foliage.  It  is  all  beautiful  here  at  first 
sight,  bul  this  also  is  a  region  which  should  be  seen  in  quietness 
and  peace,  with  time  enough  for  the  mind  to  feel  the  spell  of 
the  place,  and  to  respond  to  its  influences  of  glad  and  soothing 
repose.  This  part  of  the  scenery  of  Niagara  has  peculiar  attrac- 
tions for  thonglitful,  earnest  women,  and  is  greatly  enjoyed  by 
them.  It  mighi  be  said  that  feminine  characteristics  are  pre- 
dominant in  the  local  qualities  here,  —  in  the  brightness  and  free- 
dom, and  the  gay,  cajnicious  motion  which  on  every  side  invite 
the  eye,  —  and  it  is  all  brooded  over  by  a  si)irit  of  deep  and  joyous 
peace.  At  the  Great  Fall  one  feels  the  power  of  sterner,  more 
masculine  elements,  of  massive  strength  and  grandeur,  and  of 
eternal,  inexorable  doom.  The  fateful  element,  the  suggestion 
of  teiTor,  the  glad,  unpitying  play  of  resistless  power,  is,  indeed, 
everywhere  present  at  Niagara,  the  fierceness  of  the  tigress 
under  all  the  shrouding  beauty,  and  making  part  of  it ;  but  this 
is  true  of  many  kinds  of  beauty,  and  of  some  of  the  highest 
things  in  human  life,  and  the  value  and  gladness  of  life  are  not 
destroyed  or  lessened,  but  greatened  thereby. 

The  beauty  and  charm  of  Niagara  are  not  warm  or  sensuous 
or  tropical,  but  pure  and  bright  and  spiritual,  belonging,  as 
already  noted,  to  the  realm  of  thought,  and  appealing  to  the 


NIAGARA  FALLS. 


43 


ensuous 


higher  faculties  of  the  sonl  of  man.  And  this  beauty  and  charm 
are  not  in  the  Falls  alone,  or  even  in  the  river  alone.  The  in- 
terest and  the  value  of  the  place  depend  even  more  upon  the 
natural  forest  growth  covering  the  islands  and  the  banks  of  the 
river,  the  complex  effect  of  the  shrouding  foliage,  the  solitudes 
thus  created,  and  the  natural  shrines  and  sanctuaries  of  beauty, 
not  yet  marred  and  defiled  by  the  hand  of  man,  or  desecrated 
by  disfiguring  buildings.  If  the  trees  on  Goat  Island  and  on  all 
the  smaller  islands  were  cut  down,  and  all  the  natural  shrubbery 
and  greenery  destroyed,  as  it  is  probable  will  soon  be  done,  the 
river  would  of  course  remain,  and  the  waters  would  of  necessity 
still  pour  over  the  precipice,  as  now.  IJut  Niagara  Avould  be 
destroyed  beyond  the  possibility  of  restoration.  All  that  now 
constitutes  its  peculiar  cliarm,  and  its  value  as  a  source  of  quick- 
ening and  life  to  the  human  spirit,  all  that  now  makes  it  a 
precious  possession  to  the  American  people  and  to  mankind, 
would  have  departed  forever. 

I  am  told  that  Lhcre  are  many  people  who  do  not  understand 
this,  because  the  truth  and  reason  of  the  matter  have  never 
been  presented  to  them.  None  of  us  know  or  understand  such 
things  until  we  learn  them,  until  somebody  teaches  us  their 
truth.  If  there  are  people  who  think  that  Ning.ira  Falls  would 
still  be  interesting,  attractive,  and  valuable  as  a  spet^tacle  of 
grandeur  and  beauty,  after  the  woods  on  the  islands  and  river- 
banks  shall  have  been  removed,  and  Mhen  wing-dams  sjjrawl 
in  every  part  of  the  American  rapids,  apportioning  the  drudging 
waters  to  their  several  race-ways  and  mill-wheels,  —  they  are 
in  error,  through  not  fully  understanding  the  matter,  aiul  by 
reason  of  not  having  sufficiently  examined  it.  They  would 
themselves,  if  these  disfiguring  changes  should  be  accomplished, 
find  Niagara  entirely  devoid  of  interest  except  in  the  direction 
of  its  commercial  value,  as  a  source  of  power  for  mills  and  fac- 
tories. (This  can  as  well  be  applied,  and  the  water-power  ot 
the  Niajxara  River  can  be  utilized  to  anv  desired  degree,  without 
injury  to  the  scenery  about  the  Falls,  but  Goat  Island  is  not  the 
place  for  manufactures  of  any  kind.) 

If  the  business  enterpiises  now  contemplated  arc  carried  for- 
ward, Niagara  will  be  one  of  the  saddest,  most  painful  scenes 


Ti 


44 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


on  the  globe  to  all  tlioughtful  civilized  men.  They  will  behold 
here  the  utter  desolation  and  ruin  of  one  of  the  fairest  and 
most  precious  possessions  of  the  human  race,  the  destruction  by 
our  happy-go-lucky  democracy  of  what  should  become  one  of 
the  chief  sources  of  civilized  enjoyment  and  spiritual  delight  to 
the  American  people  forever. 


^l 


I 


r 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


46 


VII. 


[From  the  New  York  Tribune,  Aug.  20,  1882.] 

DEFACEMENT  OF  SUBLIME  SCENERY  :  THE  COLORED-LIGHT 
ABOMINATION  — ROOKERIES  AND  RUBBISII-IIEAPS  —  EVIL 
EFFECT  OF  SUCH  EXHIBITIONS  ON  PUBLIC  MORALS  — 
THE  CALL  FOR  PROMPT  ACTION  BY  THE   STATE. 


Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y.,  Avg.  23,  1882. 

There  arc  some  things  at  Niagara  Falls  whicli  belong  to  tlie 
lowest  and  worst  world  of  which  man  knows  anything;  to  a 
world  whose  elements  and  inliiiences  are  worse  than  wicked- 
ness or  ])ositive  wrong-doing,  —  the  realm  of  ugliness  and  vul- 
garity, of  influences  which  defile  and  befoul  what  is  beautiful 
and  admirable,  and  so  corrupt  and  poison  the  sources  of  life  and 
excellence.  The  tendency  of  friendly  familiarity  with  ugliness 
and  vulgarity  is  to  make  the  people  not  so  much  immoral  as  un- 
moral ;  it  leads  to  regions  and  conditions  of  life  where  the  devel- 
opment of  the  moral  sense,  of  the  inuigination,  and  of  all  high 
qualities  or  faculties  of  the  mind  of  man,  is  impossible.  Nature's 
Niagara  is  —  or  rather  Av.as  —  one  of  the  grandest  and  loveliest 
places  on  the  globe.  Some  portions  and  features  of  this  origi- 
nal Niagara  still  remain,  —  enough  of  them  to  be  well  worth 
preserving,  —  but  they  are,  nearly  all  of  them,  likely  soon  to  be 
destroyed.  Much  of  the  natural  loveliness,  of  the  old  charm, 
of  Niagara  has  already  been  obliterated  and  replaced  by  agen- 
cies and  influences  jiotent  to  vulgarize  and  debase  the  young 
and  untaught  of  the  American  people  who  for  any  reason  visit 
this  spot  which  Nature  made  sacred  to  beauty  and  to  all  high 
influences. 

The  best  j.lace  to  visit  first,  on  arrival  here,  is  the  point  at 
the  top  of  the  American  F.all  on  the  "  continental "  side,  that 


40 


NIAGARA    FALLS. 


■'    I 


ii 


is,  nearest  to  the  village.  It  is  right  and  natural  to  begin 
here,  because  the  view  from  this  point  is  more  moderate, 
or  less  striking  and  wonderful,  than  the  view  of  the  same  tall 
from  Goat  Island.  It  is  the  true  j)lace  for  the  first  view  of 
the  Falls,  and  the  scene,  in  its  natural  aspects,  is  indescribably 
beiiutil'ul.  One  of  America's  foremost  writers,  whose  works 
have  probably  ndnistered  a  pure  and  wholesome  delight  to  u 
greater  number  of  readers  than  those  of  any  other  American 
author,  tells  us,  in  his  history  of  a  certain  never-to-be-forgotten 
journey  to  Niagara  Falls,  that  as  the  visitors  approached  this 
spot,  they  enjoyed,  "  at  every  instant,  their  feeling  of  arrival  at 
a  sublime  destination;"  and  he  adds,  "  In  this  sense  Niagara 
deserves  almost  to  rank  with  Rome,  the  metropolis  of  history 
and  religion ;  with  Venice,  the  chief  city  of  sentiment  and  fan- 
tasy. In  either  you  are  at  once  made  at  home  by  a  percei)tion 
of  its  greatness,  in  which  there  is  no  quality  of  aggression,  as 
there  always  seems  to  be  in  minor  places,  as  well  as  in  nnnor 
men,  and  you  gratefully  accept  its  sublimity  as  a  fact  in  no  way 
contrasting  with  your  own  insignificance." 

Lei  me  quote  further,  for  I  have  a  purpose :  — 

"  In  fact,  that  prodigious  presence  does  make  a  solitude  and  silence 
round  every  siiirit  wortliy  to  perceive  it,  and  it  gives  a  kind  of  dignity 
to  all  its  belongings,  so  tiiat  the  rocks  and  pebbles  in  the  water's  edge, 
and  tlie  weeds  and  grasses  that  nod  above  it,  have  a  value  far  beyond 
that  of  such  comiuon  things  elsewhere.  In  all  the  aspects  of  Niagara 
there  seems  a  grave  simplicity,  which  is  perhaps  a  reflection  of  the 
spectfvtor"s  soul,  for  once  utterly  dismantled  of  affectation  and  con- 
vention. 

The  last  hues  of  sunset  lingered  in  the  mists  that  sprung  from  the 
base  of  the  Falls  with  a  mournful,  tremulous  grace,  and  a  movement 
weird  as  the  play  of  the  Northern  Lights.  They  were  touched  with 
the  most  delicate  purples  and  crimsons,  that  darkened  to  deep  red, 
and  then  faded  from  them  at  a  second  look,  and  they  flew  upward, 
swiftly  upward,  like  troops  of  pale,  transparent  ghosts  ;  while  a  per- 
fectly clear  radiance,  better  than  any  other  for  local  color,  dvv'elt  upon 
the  scene.  Far  under  the  bridge  the  river  smoothly  ran,  the  under- 
currents forever  unfolding  themselves  upon  the  surface  with  a  vast 
roselike  evolution,  edgpd  all  round  with  faint  lines  of  white,  where 
the  air  that  filled  the  water  freed  itself  in  foam.    What  had  been  clear 


i 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


47 


green  on  the  f.ace  of  the  cataract  was  here  more  like  rich  verd  antique, 
and  had  a  look  of  finiiiicss  almost  like  that  of  tiio  stouc  itself.  So  it 
showed  bouoath  the  bridi^'c,  and  down  the  river  till  tho  curviiii^  shores 
hid  it.  These,  springing  abruptly  from  the  water's  brink,  and  .shagged 
with  pine  and  cedar,  disfjlayed  tho  tender  verdure  of  grass  and  bushes 
uitermingled  with  the  dark  evergreens  that  climb  from  ledge  to  ledge, 
till  they  point  their  si)eary  tops  above  the  crest  of  tho  blulfs.  In 
front,  where  tumbled  rocks  and  expanses  of  naked  clay  varied  tho 
gloonner  and  gayer  green,  sprung  thu.se  spectral  niLsts  ;  and  through 
them  loomed  out,  in  its  manifold  nuije.sty,  Niagara,  with  the  seen»- 
ingly  immovable,  white  (iothic  screen  of  the  Amtrican  Fall,  and  the 
green  massive  curve  of  the  Ilorse-Shoe,  solid  and  simple  and  calm  as 
an  Egyptian  wall  ;  while  behind  this,  with  their  white  and  black  ex- 
panses broken  by  dark-foliaged  little  isles,  the  steep  Canadian  rapids 
billowed  down  between  their  heavily  wooded  shores." 

Tho  last  paragraph  describes  the  view  from  the  now  suspen- 
sion bridge,  just  below  the  Falls.  Those  jinssages  present,  with 
tlie  delicacy  and  accuracy  possible  to  genius  alone,  a  picture  of 
the  scone  wliidi  is  repeated  almo.st  every  evening  through 
weeks  of  fair  sununer  weather  every  year.  But  now  it  is  suc- 
ceeded every  iiiglit,  almost  before  the  sunset  lines  are  fully  with- 
drawn, by  an  indescribably  painful  and  debasing  exhibition. 
Electric  lights  are  thrown  througli  variously  colored  gla.sses, 
full  upon  "the  white  Gothic  screen  of  tho  American  Fall,  and 
the  green,  massive  curve  of  the  Ilorse-Shoo."  Blue  and  red 
and  yellow  rays  are  shot  suddenly  hither  and  thither  upon 
the  billowy  rapids,  and  the  boys  who  manage  tho  lights  amuse 
themselves  by  Hashing  their  intolerable  brilliance  in  tho  fates 
of  people  wherever  they  can  be  seen  within  range,  and  thus 
driving  them  from  place  to  place  to  escape  the  blinding  glare. 
When  a  rod  glass  is  used  the  American  P""all  has  the  appear- 
ance of  the  discharge-way  of  an  enormous  beet-sugar  manu- 
factory. When  the  yellowish  glass  is  interposed  the  cataract 
looks  much  like  the  "  tail-race"  of  an  old-time  wild-cat  distillery 
on  the  Lower  Maumee. 

I  w^as  once  riding  on  horseback  near  the  Maumee  River,  in 
company  with  several  Methodist  ministers,  when  the  wind 
brought  to  us  very  distinctly  the  odors  from  a  distillery  across 
the  valley,  half  a  mile  away.     The  foremost  man  in  the  group 


48 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


iy 


■'I 


wn«  a  vovy  earnest  tcMtipcranoe  ndvoonte.  As  tlio  seont  renelied 
us  lie  snilll'il  two  or  three  times,  then  turned  in  the  saddle,  and 
observeil,  "  I  siuell  hell."  We  have  not  this  particular  rr.ij^ranee 
lit  the  Kails  as  yet,  hut  even  this  may  be  liere  before  many  years 
have  passed,  for  one  of  the  projects  "for  the  developnu'ut  of  tlio 
resources  of  Niai^ara"  talked  of  here  is  the  erection  of  a  mam- 
moth distillery  on  (loat  Island. 

As  things  are  now,  the  evening  exhibition  at  the  Falls  on  the 
American  side  resembles  the  combination  of  a  ]>oor  circus  with 
ji  cheap  celebration  of  the  Fourth  of  July.  No  descri|ttion  can 
give  to  those  who  have  not  seen  it  an  adequate  notion  of  the 
abominable  effect  of  the  colored  electric  liglits  when  directed 
ujion  the  Falls,  It  is  debasing,  vulg.irizing,  and  horrible  in  the 
extreme.  That  chihb'en  and  young  peojde  should  be  exposed 
to  tlie  influence  of  such  a  spectacle  is  matter  for  dec])est  regret 
and  sadness.  It  is  evident  that  neither  the  ])eople  who  make 
tliis  exhibition  nor  those  who  enjoy  it  would  have  any  rooted 
objection  agiiinst  the  actual  defilement  of  these  crystal  waters, 
as  their  taste  is  actually  so  perverted  that  they  liave  no  joy  in 
their  ]turity  or  beauty,  but  have  a  morbid  and  diseased  pleasure 
in  their  being  made  to  look  as  if  they  were  disgustingly  be- 
fouled and  impure.  Wordsworth's  phrase,  "  vital  feelings  of 
delight,"  is  a  most  pregnant  and  suggestive  expression  ;  for  there 
are  deatlly  feelings  of  delight  as  well  as  vital  ones,  and  if  young 
people  are  not  surrounded  by  beautiful  and  ennobling  objects 
and  si)ectacle8,  many  of  them  will  come  to  delight  in  things 
that  are  false,  debasing,  antl  monstrous.  These  evil  intluences 
propagate  themselves  according  to  natural  and  universal  laws, 
and  this  exhibition  of  Niagara  Falls  in  colors,  by  means  of 
electric  lights,  is  a  kind  of  evil  missionary  agency  for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  young  ])eo])le  of  America  in  the  love  of  vulgarity 
and  ugliness.  It  is  the  fashion  here  to  praise  this  exhibition  as 
something  beautiful  and  "artistic,"  and  it  is  often  painful  to 
hear  peo])le  talking  such  rubbish  who  ought  to  know  better. 
But  it  is  always  a  little  dull  in  the  crowd  of  those  who  watch 
the  lights,  and  if  anybody  starts  a  conversation  with  a  com- 
panion many  will  listen,  and,  if  propriety  admits,  as  when  a 
general  subject  is  discussed,  will  express  agreement  or  approval. 


-:    i 


MAG  AHA   FALLS. 


49 


After  1  liad  boon  lioro  for  some  tlmo  tlu^  Runimor,  hntvj;  wojiry 
of  lioarin;:;  KonsiUlo-lookiiiu;  men  and  wonun  say,  "()|i,  liow 
boautil'iil!"  and  "  Is  n't  that  lovoly?"  I  asked  a  ij;cnlleni!in  at 
the  hotel  to  go  down  with  me  ono  evening  and  help  me  try  the 
eff'cc-t  of  expressing  dissent  and  dissalislliction.  lie  eonsenteil, 
and  we  were  in  the  company  at  the  purapet  at  Prospect  I'nint 
when  tlio  red  lights  were  turned  on  the  bi'autit'iil  ciiscade.  We 
looked  at  it  for  a  few  moments,  until  the  people  around  iis  Ixgan 
to  talk,  and  then  my  friend  observed  earnestly  that  the  exliibili(*n. 
Avas  in  wretcliedly  bad  taste,  and  tended  to  cheapen  and  degrade 
a  sublime  and  ncjbh^  spectacle,  that  it  suggested  a  ''  variety  " 
entertainment  in  :i  dance-liall  in  a  mining  town,  an<I  that  it 
seemed  as  if  the  next  thing  should  be  tin'  appearance  of  a  girl 
in  tights,  with  cymbals,  to  sing  a  comic  song.  I  addi'd  that,  as 
all  the  people  had  either  seen  the  Falls  during  the  day,  or  would 
do  so  on  the  morrow,  it  would  be  far  better  if  we  could  (piietly 
enjoy  the  beauty  an<l  wonder  of  the  scene  by  the  natural  light 
of  the  moon  and  stars.  We  talked  in  this  way  for  a  few  mo- 
ments, and  many  j)ersons  near  us  expressed  similar  ideas  and 
sentiments,  and  some  even  said,  "Let  us  go ;  I  do  not  care  to 
look  at  that."  As  wo  walked  back  to  the  hotel  the  gentleman 
said,  "  I  had  seen  it  many  times,  but  really  I  never  thought 
before  how  ugly  and  unnatural  it  looked."  Since  then,  as  the 
company  is  mainly  a  new  one  each  evening  at  the  Point,  we 
have  repeated  the  experiment  several  limes,  with  similar  results. 
There  is  reason  to  believe  that  many  jteople  are  inlluenced  very 
considerably  by  tlie  mere  utterance  and  iteration  of  sentiments 
or  opinions  in  their  hearing,  and  in  newspapers  which  they  read  ; 
and  as  erroneous  opinions  and  vicious  tastes  and  inlluenevs 
are  potent  to  profiagate  themselves  by  this  means,  it  is  very 
desirable  that  people  who  have  knowledge  and  wholesome 
taste  should  also  be  ready  to  encourage  adherence  to  high 
standards. 

The  press  of  the  country  can  do  much  to  bring  about  a  better 
state  of  things  at  Niagara  Falls.  The  predomin  iut  element  in 
the  existing  state  of  things  is  the  prevalence  of  ugliness,  marring 
and  neutralizing  the  nobility  and  harmony  of  a  scene  of  wonder- 
ful natural  grandeur  and  beauty.     The  cokrcu-light  nuisance  is 


m 


60 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


|i 


m 


^ 


but  one  feature,  or  instance,  of  this  ugliness.  Most  of  the  struc- 
tures in  Prospect  Park  are  obtrusively  unbeautiful ;  but  outside 
of  it,  as  one  passes  along  the  river  front  of  the  village,  going  up 
the  stream  by  .the  side  of  the  American  rapids,  he  encounters 
such  a  variety  or  conglomeration  of  <lifferent  kinds  of  ugliness 
and  slovenliness  as  is  not  often  seen  in  a  territory  so  contracted. 
In  a  short  walk  one  sees  piles  of  lumber,  hea])S  of  sawdust  and 
of  manure,  scattered  litter  of  scrap-iron  and  of  many  other 
kinds  of  waste,  old,  unpainted,  decaying  buildings  and  sheds, 
here  the  foundations  of  a  house  that  has  tumbled  down,  and 
there  a  dirty  area  overgrown  with  rank,  imsightly  weeds.  All 
this,  and  much  besides  of  similar  repulsiveness,  just  where  there 
should  be  a  walk  shaded  by  beautiful  trees,  between  the  river 
on  one  side  and  a  forest  belt  on  the  other,  which  should  shut 
out  the  village  from  view. 

But  no  real  or  considerable  improvement  is  possible  under 
existing  contlitions  of  private  land-ownership  at  Niagara.  It 
was  a  great  and  mischievous  error  —  I  fear  a  fatal  mistake  —  to 
allow  tl'.e  land  adjacent  to  the  Falls  to  become  private  property. 
It  should  have  been  held  forever  by  the  State  or  by  the  Na- 
tional Government,  in  trust  for  the  use  and  pleasure  of  the 
people  of  our  country.  The  only  remedy  which  it  now  seems 
possible  to  apply  is  the  one  suggested  in  the  message  of  Gov- 
ernor liobinson  (Jan.  D,  1879),  and  in  a  special  report  of  the 
Board  of  Commissioners  of  the  State  Survey,  and  the  rejwrt  of 
the  Dn'ector  on  the  Preservation  of  the  Scenery  around  Niagara 
FaMs.  This  report  was  transmitted  to  the  Legislature  of  New 
York  March  122,  1880,  by  Horatio  Seymour,  President  of  the 
Board.  The  connnission  was  composed  of  the  following  distin- 
guished gentlemen:  W.  A.  Wheeler,  Robert  S.  Hale,  William 
Dorsheimer,  Francis  A.  Stout,  George  Geddes,  and  F.  A.  P. 
Barnard.  The  report  was  made  by  Mr.  James  T.  Gardner, 
Director  of  the  State  Survey,  and  Mr.  Frederick  Law  Olmsted. 
It  is  a  document  of  unusual  interest  and  importance  ;  and,  what 
is  not  always  true  of  State  reports  or  official  documents,  it 
is  wonderfully  interesting  and  entertaining.  It  is  a  great  juty 
that  it  could  not  be  published  in  sonie  more  popular  form,  and 
60  made  accessible  to  the  general  public.  It  should  be  read  in 
every  family  in  the  State  of  New  York. 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


61 


It  recommends  the  purchase,  by  the  State  of  Xew  York,  of 
Goat  Island  and  the  smaller  islands  near  it,  and  of  the  land  on 
the  American  side  of  tlie  river  immediately  contiguous  to  tlio 
Falls  and  to  the  rapids.  By  this  means  this  invalual)le  national 
possession  may  be  rescued  from  certain  destruction.  But  what- 
ever is  done  must  be  done  speedily,  or  it  will  be  too  late.  This 
would  not  be  a  great  or  difficult  undertaking  for  the  great  State 
of  New  York.  IJut  American  business  men  and  leaders  of  so- 
ciety are  usually  ashamed  or  reluctant  to  acknowledge  a  real 
and  practical  interest  in  matters  of  taste.  And  yet  every  intel- 
ligent man  knows  that  such  agencies  and  iniluences  are  of  great 
importance  to  national  character.  Those  Avho  understand  the 
relation  of  material  conditions  to  a  high  civilization  ought  to 
speak  and  act  i)romptly  and  vigorously,  in  comiectiun  with  this 
enterprise.  I  write  of  it  in  the  hope  that  the  press  of  the  coun- 
try may  ])ublish  the  facts  widely,  and  discuss  the  subject  thor- 
oughly, with  its  usual  iutelligeuce,  candor,  aud  approval  of  all 
things  good. 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


VIII. 

[From  the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser,  Aug.  18,  1882.] 

MILLS  AND  MANUFACTOHIER  OCCUPYING  THE  SHORES  AND 
ISLANDS— THE  BEAUTY  OF  THE  AMERICAN  SHORE  AL- 
READY DESTROYED— NECESSITY  OF  TROMPT  ACTION  TO 
AVERT  THE  RUIN. 

Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y.,  Aiip.  14,  1882. 

**  Can  NiaQ;ar:i  be  saved  ?  Is  it  worth  while  to  try  ?  "  These 
are  among  the  questions  which  thouglitful  and  public-sjiirited 
Americans  ask.  as  they  survey  the  difficulties  which  must  be 
overcome  in  order  to  make  this  great  undertaking  successful. 
It  is,  of  course,  extremely  difficult  to  obtain  any  considerable 
attention  for  such  an  enterprise.  The  public  mind  is  preoccu- 
pied. Puliticians  are,  naturally  and  not  unreasonably,  reluctant 
to  concern  themselves  with  matters  not  included  in  the  scope  or 
issues  of  practical  political  affairs;  and  in  this  country  almost 
every  man  who  can  in  any  manner  or  degree  influence  public 
opinion  or  action  is  a  politician.  Americans  are  a  busy  people, 
and  few  of  them  have  time  or  room  for  much  thought  or  inter- 
est regarding  anything  outside  of  their  daily  Avork  and  business 
interests.  Xo  wonder  there  seems  little  chance  of  bringing 
many  people  to  care  about  Niagara  in  time  to  prevent  its  de- 
struction. But  the  public  mind  is  always  preoccu})ied, —  always 
has  been,  and  always  will  be.  .And  yet,  in  time  past,  public 
attention  has  been  j;wakened,  and  public  interest  secured,  for 
various  matters  which  at  first  seemed  to  be  outside  of  the  range 
of  practical  and  necessary  .'iffiiirs;  and  such  things  will  doubt- 
less, from  time  to  time,  be  done  again.  It  is  a  very  difficult 
work,  this  of  inducing  the  people  of  the  country  or  of  the  State 
of  New  York  to  heai-,  to  read,  to  attend  sufficiently  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  facts  of  the  case,  so  that  they  can  judge 


r 


II 


NIAGARA    FALLS. 


58 


intelligently  of  tlicir  importance.  Perhaps  it  may  require  con- 
si(lcral)lo  time  and  much  effort  to  accomplish  this.  IJut  it  can 
probably  l>e  done,  and  will  be,  I  suppose,  if  a  few  men  of  char- 
acter and  ability  come  to  feel  bow  valuable  are  the  interests 
which  are  imperilled  here.  Let  us  consider  another  class  of 
obstacles  or  discouragements,  which  may  be  formulated  or  de- 
scribed in  some  such  words  as  these:  "The  growth  of  wealth 
and  of  the  selfisli  Individualism  which  accompanies  it  (an(i 
which  corrupts  many  who  arc  not  rich),  seems  to  weaken  all 
properly  social  motives  and  efforts.  Ml'u  in  cities  and  towns 
feel  much  less  relation  with  their  neighbors  than  of  old.  There 
is  less  civic  patriotism  ;  less  sense  of  a  spiritual  and  moral  com- 
munity. Though  this  is  owing  in  part  to  other  causes,  it  is 
mainly  due  to  the  selfishness  of  the  indiviilualism  in  a  well-to-do 
democracy."  There  are  great  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  eff(.)rt 
to  save  Niagara  from  destruction;  but  I  s\ippose  our  democracy 
can  learn.  It  must,  or  it  may  not  always  be  well-to-do.  It  may 
be  that  we  cannot  brine:  the  mass  of  Americans  to  recojjjnizo 
any  resjionsibility  for  the  ])reservation  of  Niagara,  or  to  feel  any 
of  the  hig1"'r  motives  for  doing  so.  If  this  should  prove  to  be 
true,  then  t'  woi-k  would  be  not  so  much  to  save  the  Falls  as 
to  save  o'  .  i    iouls.     Were  we  to  see  the  Falls  destroyed 

without  an  «...  .u  to  save  them,  the  sin  would  be  ours. 

It  is  necessary  to  keep  always  clearly  in  mind  the  actual  sit- 
uation here.  It  may  be  very  briefly  described.  It  has  three 
main  features.  1st.  The  charm,  interest,  or  value  of  Niagara 
is  not  in  the  river  alone.  The  m'con  foliacce  of  the  trees  and 
vines  on  the  shores  aiul  islands  is  an  essential  part  of  it,  and  if 
this  natural  framework  of  beauty  is  destroyed,  the  mere  tum- 
bling of  the  water  over  the  j)recipice  in  a  wilderness  of  mills 
and  factories  will  yield  no  delicjht  to  anv  human  beini;. 

2d.  The  territory  which  is  essential  to  the  beauty  and  value 
of  the  scenery  is  being  rapidly  appropriated,  and  without  some 
effectual  interposition  is  likely  soon  to  be  all  appropriated  to 
industrial  uses  in  the  form  of  sites  for  mills  and  manufactories 
of  various  kinds.  This  is  entirely  unnecessary,  because  there 
are  better  sites  far  enough  away  from  tlie  Falls  to  leave  the 
scenery  imdisturbed.     But  it  is  inevitable  under  the  circum- 


54 


MAGARA   FALLS. 


stnnccs,  liocnnse  business  interests  demand  it,  the  owners  of  the 
l:\nd  not  being  able  to  afVord  tlie  luxury  of  such  scenery,  pre- 
served and  ninintiiiiied  at  tlieir  jirivate  cost. 
.  nd.  All  the  evils  which  beset  and  the  dangers  which  threaten 
Niagara  are  the  natural  and  lueessary  result  of  the  private  or 
individual  ownership  ot  the  laii<ls  contiguous  to  tlie  river,  and 
are  insei)aiable  froiu  it.  So  far  as  human  judgment  or  foresight 
can  discover,  the  c()iiii)lete  destruction  of  Xiagara  is  certain  tt> 
be  accoiujilislu'd  uidess  those  lands  can  be  converted  from  a 
private  possesssion  into  a  public  trust.  Unless  the  State  iuter- 
poscs,  Niagara  will  soon  be  a  memory. 

The  beauty  of  the  American  shore  of  the  river  along  nearly 
tlie  whole  extent  of  the  rajti<ls  has  been  entirely  desti'oyed  ;  the 
lovely  urowth  of  trees  and  swavimr  vines  which  foimerlv  frin<fed 
it,  au<l  oAcrhung  the  rushing  water,  having  been  gradually  re- 
moved. A  long  array  of  unsightly  buildings  (with  heai)S  of 
litter  of  various  kinds)  now  takes  the  place  of  the  ancient  syl- 
van beauty.  The  same  thing  is  true,  essentially,  of  what  was 
once  the  most  beautiful  island  in  the  American  rapids.  It  is 
occu])ied  in  jiartby  a  new  ])aper-inill  (which  h;is  a  most  jiincing 
and  intolerable  steam-whistle,  which  awakens  every  sleeper  at 
the  nearer  hotels),  and  in  part  by  the  desolation  where  an  old 
mill  was  burned  df)wn.  In  less  than  two  years  the  youngest 
heir  to  the  I'state  of  which  Goat  Island  is  a  part  will  be  of  age, 
and  the  island  will  then  be  sold.  There  is  the  strongest  proba- 
bility (hat,  uidess  the  State  becomes  the  purchaser,  it  will  be 
bought  for  manufacturing  purjioses,  and  made  the  site  of  exten- 
sive mills  and  shops.  All  the  beauty  of  Niagara  that  now 
remains  unimpaired  belongs  to  the  islands,  and  this  is  the 
fate  that  threatens  it.  Already  wing-dams  and  ice-barriers 
sprawl  widely  across  what  was  the  finest  part  of  the  American 
rapids. 

There  are  several  classes  of  persons  in  this  country  who 
should  lie  most  deeply  concerned  to  avert  this  ruin.  1  he 
learned  men  who  are  specially  interested  in  science,  in  its  new 
develojmients  and  broader  applications,  should  not  be  silent 
while  Niagara  is  being  destroyed  by  the  commercial  spirit 
using  science  us  its  servitor.     Shall  science  serve  only  the  lower 


I,  i 


NIAGARA    FALLS. 


Bo 


practical  and  economic  interests  of  Imnian  life?  Are  avc  to 
witness  the  complete  ruin  of  this  uiii(jue  spectacle  of  natural 
beauty  and  grandeur  without  any  remonstrance  from  the  great 
teachers  of  science  in  this  and  other  lands?  Doubtless,  when 
the  destruction  is  accomplished,  eloquent  expressions  uf  regret 
will  not  be  wanting;  but  eloquence  would  be  better  cmjjluycd 
in  preventing  the  catastro])he  than  in  bewailing  it. 

The  educators  of  our  coinitry  should  be  deeply  interested.  I 
suppose  the  colleges  couhl  save  Niagar.a  ;  certiiinly  the  men 
who  have  been  tr;iined  in  them  could  do  so.  It  is  highly  grati- 
fying and  encouraging  to  thoughtful  .Vmericnns  to  see  the 
growing  interest  of  our  universities  in  classical  learning  and 
antiquities.  It  would  be  a  misfortune  and  a  shame  not  to  sus- 
tain such  work  as  that  of  tlu^  American  Archieol(>gic;d  Insti- 
tute, for  instance.  Yet  Ningara  is  worth  more  to  the  people  of 
our  country  than  the  noblest  temple  that  ever  lifted  its  white 
front  in  the  "pellucid  air"  of  Greece.  The  intellectual  condi- 
tions and  atmosphere  of  a  country  that  ]>ermits  the  destiuction 
of  Ni;ii>'ara  cannot  be  exiiected  to  be  favorable  to  hi''h  cidture 
of  any  kind.  It  will  be  matter  of  interest  to  learn  what  is  the 
feeling  at  Harvard,  at  Yale,  at  the  University  of  ^'i^gini;l,  and 
in  the  colleu'cs  of  the  lii<>'her  class  Lienerallv  in  this  countrv, 
retiardiu""  the  interests  imperilK'd  here. 

Our  statesmen,  who  are  interested  in  the  higher  asjjccts  of 
national  character  and  action,  and  who  believe  that  democracy 
is  specially  suited  to  produce  the  most  exalted  and  noble  civil- 
ization, should  not  remain  silent  and  inditfercnt  while  this  evil 
tlireatens.  Clergymen  shotdd  be  especially  interested  in  the 
preservation  of  Niagara.  Tiie  sentiments  which  it  ins})ires, 
and  the  feelings  which  it  nourishes,  —  the  "  vital  feelings  of 
delight "  (to  use  Wordswort'i's  ])hrase  of  prof  ni.id  meaning) 
which  arc  awakened  here, — these  influences  are  such  as,  in 
all  times  and  lands,  have  been  found  especially  f'vorable  to 
religion  and  to  all  the  higher  activities  and  exi)criences  of  the 
si)iritual  nature  of  man.  If  there  is  any  spectacle  on  earth 
which,  more  than  any  other,  awakens  what  is  deepest  and  best 
in  the  soul,  filling  it  with  adoring,  reverent  awe,  that  spectacle 
is  Niagara.     Will  those  whose  special  function  it  is  to  guard 


56 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


the  higher  ppiritnal  interests  of  the  nation  see  without  concern 
tliG  blotting  out  of  this  wonder  of  loveliness  and  grandeur? 

But,  far  more  than  any  particular  or  limited  class,  the  com- 
mon people  of  our  country  should  feel  interested  in  the  preser- 
vation of  Niagara.  It  is  pre-eminently  their  possession,  and  if 
it  is  Jiot  destroyed,  it  is  certain  to  be  made  more  and  more  ac- 
cessible and  enjoyable  to  them.  Whatever  may  be  the  measure 
of  the  inilncnce  and  consequent  responsibility  of  any  of  the 
classes  which  I  have  named,  it  is  certain  that  hero  there  is  all 
necessary  i)owcr.  The  people  of  New  York  can  decree  the 
preservation  of  Niagara.  No  doubt  they  would  do  so  with  all 
desirable  promptness  and  emphasis,  if  the  facts  of  the  situation 
here  could  be  ])lainly  brought  home  to  them.  The  revenues  of 
a  great  and  highly  civilized  peoi)le  were  never,  in  time  of  peace, 
used  for  a  nobler  object  than  this.  The  artists  of  the  world, 
and  all  other  lovers  of  natural  beauty  who  have  not  seen  Niag- 
ara, should  visit  it  as  soon  as  possible.  In  a  very  few  years 
little  may  remain  to  suggest  the  ouce  unparalleled  glory  and 
loveliness. 


i 


APPENDIX. 


I    I 


I. 

\^From  Uarperh  Weekly,       g.  26,  1882.] 

THE  KESCUE   OF  NIAGARA  FALLS. 

More  than  once  we  have  spoken  of  the  fatal  injury  clone  to 
the  State  of  New  York,  and  to  the  national  character  itself, 
by  the  desecration  of  Niagara  Falls.  In  the  letters  of  cor- 
respondents during  this  summer  we  have  observed  a  complaint 
of  the  diminishing  public  interest  in  the  Falls  as  a  resort,  and  of 
the  great  falling  oft"  in  the  nun>ber  of  visitors.  This  is  due  to 
the  total  want  of  care  in  preserving  the  attractive  character  of 
the  neighborhood.  Every  kind  of  disagreeable  object  is  huddled 
along  the  shore,  until  the  complete  vulgarization  of  all  the  ap- 
proaches and  points  of  vantage,  the  nuisance  of  encroaching 
buildings  and  hacknien  and  Indian  shops,  and  a  multitude  of 
petty  annoyances,  fairly  repel  the  visitor,  and  give  the  worst 
of  reputations  for  comfort  and  agreeability  to  a  resort  which 
should  be  among  the  most  delightful  in  the  country.  When 
the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Niagara  is  covered  with  fac- 
tories and  tenement-houses  and  their  dependencies,  the  sublime 
spectacle,  one  of  the  true  wonders  of  the  world,  will  be  effectu- 
ally and  forever  lost  as  an  influence  of  moral  elevation  and  happi- 
ness. And  this  fate  is  already  impending.  One  of  the  islands 
has  been  already  ruined  as  a  part  of  the  landscape ;  others  are 
threatened.  The  bank  all  along  the  American  rapids  has  been 
ehorn  of  foliage,  of  trees  and  vines,  and  covered  with  mills, 
barns,    sheds,  and    unsightly  structures.    In  two    years    the 


68 


APPENDIX. 


yonnfjost  lioir  of  the  Goat  Island  estate  will  come  of  age,  and 
the-  island  will  then  be  sold  and  covered  with  factories.  This 
is  the  time  for  action  to  save  Niagara  Falls.  A  few  months 
later,  even,  will  be  too  late.  Is  it  worth  while  to  preserve  this 
natural  wonder  tor  the  delight  of  the  world  ?  If  it  is,  what 
shall  be  done  ? 

Niairara  is  a  threat  water-nower,  and  there  is  no  need  of  losincr 
it  as  such.  Hut  that  is  not  the  (juestion.  It  is  not  whether 
Niagara  is  more  valuable  as  factory  i)0wer  or  as  beauty  and 
sublimity,  but  how  it  shall  best  serve  both  use  and  beauty. 
The  answer  is  simple,  for  the  situation  is  obvious.  The  river 
above  the  I'alls  lies  high  over  the  lower  country.  Its  power  is 
available  everywhere.  By  drawing  it  off  above  the  cataract, 
and  reserving  a  little  space  of  shore,  bank,  and  island  all 
around  the  Falls,  the  problem  is  solved  :  the  factories  are  built 
below;  the  cataract  is  saved.  A  strip  of  land  broadening  from 
a  hundred  feet  at  the  end  to  eicht  hundred  or  a  thousand  feet 
above  the  Falls,  inclosing  the  cataract  and  its  immediate  neiijh- 
borhood,  and  capable  of  such  landscape  treatment  as  to  ]»lant 
out  every  unsightly  object,  is  all  that  is  necessary.  Such  a  jtlan 
was  suggested  four  or  five  years  ago,  and  Avas  most  urgently 
commended  by  leading  men  on  both  sides  of  the  river.  J  bit  it 
was  a  general  proposition,  evidently  most  jtroper  and  desirable, 
but  involving  ex])ense  and  trouble.  It  was  nobody's  business 
in  particular,  and  after  an  admirable  report  from  Mr.  Olm- 
sted, and  some  attempts  to  arouse  i)ubllc  interest,  the  subject 
dro])ped. 

The  representations  now  made,  however,  show  that  without 
})rompt  action  Niagara  is  lost,  exeejit  as  a  wuter-jjower.  The 
rescue  of  the  cataract,  its  proper  jirescrvation,  and  the  perma- 
nent maiutennnce  of  its  imme(liato  vicinity  as  a  imblic  ]>ark, 
is  a  duty  which  the  State  of  New  York  may  wisely  un<lertake. 
It  is  one  of  the  public  works  for  a  high  public  purpose,  like  the 
gift  of  statues  of  eminent  New-Yorkers  to  the  Capitol  at  Wash- 
ington, which  public  opinion  would  undoubtedly  authorize. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  if  a  few  active,  intelligent,  and  interested 
men  in  the  State  should  take  the  project  in  hand  upon  the  gen- 
eral basis  of  Mr.  Olmsted's  report,  inviting  him  to  make  such 


APPENDIX. 


69 


furtlicr  snggost"K)iH  as  niiglit  owur,  tlie  work  wouM  be  (Idik.-. 
Suit.'iliU'  rc'prcst'iit.'itions  to  tlic  Govorrior  and  gciionil  (li.sciissioii 
ill  (111'  prcf-s  would  Mnqut'slionably  |)rocuro  a  rccom inundation 
to  tlie  Legislature,  which  would  find  tlicn  a  resiioiisivc  puLlie 
spirit,  so  that  it  would  be  seed  sown  in  a  fniitliil  soil.  I,iL 
Now  York  spare  herself  the  tdiaine  of  the  practical  obliteraliun 
of  Niagara  Falls. 


TI. 


[From  a  Lrlhr  In  the.  New  York  Hrrald,  S,'pt.  0,  1882.] 


CoMMius,  Ohio,  Sept.  5,  1882. 

Is  thorp  not  throughout  the  Slate  of  New  York  a  g  neral 
ajiathy  tow.'ird  this  great  iniproveiueiit  which  iiitelligeiit  dis- 
cussion and  patriotic  appi'al  alone  can  ovcrcoine?  Such  ineas- 
uros  as  free  canals,  a  new  afjueduct  or  new  jiark  lor  New 
York  City,  may  a])pear  as  more  practical  and  pri'ssing  wants. 
Yet,  sorely  needed  as  these  things  are,  it  is  yet  true  that  if  the 
Niagara  reform  were  fairly  considered  on  the  length  aiul  breadth 
of  its  merits,  its  importance  would  appear  even  higher  and 
greater  than  any  other  need  of  the  State.  This  traii.sceiident 
ffift  of  iKitiire  must  be  restored  and  reconsecrated  to  the  hioh 
uses  of  its  own  sublimity  and  beauty.  This  must  be  done  in 
the  interest  of  the  State,  of  the  nation,  and  of  travellers  from 
every  clime  and  country.  Not  another  year  should  pass  with- 
out finding  tliis  work  well  in  hand. 

There  has  been  consi<lerable  desultory  writing  upon  this  sub- 
ject, inadequate,  however,  to  proibice  much  efl'ect.  A  vigorous 
general  discussion  in  the  press  would  greatly  aid  in  making  clear 
the  urgency  of  the  movement.  It  would  arouse  the  interest  ot 
the  many  thousand  citizens  who  possess  sufficient  culture  to 
perceive  the  priceless  value  and  utility  of  such  imperial  gran- 
deur for   its  own   sake.     A   State   that  can,  without   serious 


60 


APPENDIX. 


opposition,  sqiiandor  more  miHions  ujion  its  Capitol  than  tlie 
United  States  have  expended  upon  theirs,  will  not,  wlien  it 
comes  to  the  sticking  jioint,  beiirudge  a  million  or  two  to  savo 
Niairara.  Niagara  is  a  beautiful  name,  and  it  stands  for  a 
Bcene  which,  from  the  days  of  Father  Hennepin,  has  been  an 
object  of  w(tnder  and  delight,  almost  of  worship,  to  pilgrims 
from  every  portion  of  the  globe.  Will  you  not  for  the  ))ublic 
good  renew  the  agitation  of  this  question  with  some  siu'h  en- 
ergy and  good  etlect  as  that  with  which  you  are  now  urging  a 
wise  selection  for  the  next  State  Executive'?  To  iK>rniit  tho 
beggarly  crew  of  millers,  paper-makers,  sawyers,  showmen,  and 
the  vermin  of  small  venders  who  now  infest  Niagara's  brink  to 
go  on  and  complete  tlieir  work  of  destruction,  as  they  surely 
will  unless  thrust  out  by  the  strong  arm  of  the  State,  were  a 
folly  and  madness  compared  to  which  the  burning  of  tlie 
Louvre  by  the  Ccmimune  were  an  act  of  supremo  wisdom. 
Even  the  Louvre  might  in  time  be  restored  ;  but,  once  destroyed, 
who  shall  restore  thee,  Niagara,  thou  "  cunniiigest  pattern  of 
most  excelling  Nature "  ?  J^'t  (he  defders  of  this  temple  of 
divine  beauty  be  driven  out  with  the  scourge  of  law  and 
righteous  indignation. 


in. 

[From  the  New  York  Tribune,  Sept.  12,  1882.] 
NIAGARA  —  A   SUGGKSTION. 


The  Marquis  of  Lornc,  it  is  stated,  favors  the  scheme  of  the 
International  Park  at  Niagara,  and  will  probably  take  steps  to 
forward  it.  But  what  can  Lord  Lome  do  in  the  premises?  It 
is  not  the  Canadian  side  of  the  Falls  that  is  disgraced  with 
gigantic  factories,  or  penny  schemes  of  cheating,  or  tawdry 
electric  lights.  Practically  the  Canadians  have  Icfl  the  great 
Fall  to  Nature.    Every  American  of  decent  feeling,  or  the 


APPENDIX. 


Gt 


slightest  rognnl  for  propriety  even,  agrees  with  tlie  Marquis  in 
this  mutter.  That  the  owners  of  the  property  think  ilitferently 
is  a  I'ity,  but  not  perhaps  to  be  wondered  at.  It  in  a  inatti-r 
with  them  nninly  of  taste,  and  of  luxury  and  comfort  for  them- 
selves and  their  ehildren  during  life.  If  the  whole  AiUL'riean 
nation,  which  professes  to  be  outraged  by  the  vulgar  desecra- 
tion of  this  wonder  of  Nature,  cannot  afford  to  buy  it  and  keep 
it  free  from  desecration,  why  should  two  or  three  individuals 
bear  the  whole  burden  V  A  dollar  apiece  from  the  wealthy 
men  of  two  or  three  of  our  large  cities  would  save  the  country 
from  the  disgrace  of  turning  Niagara  into  a  great  natural  engine 
fc»r  paper-niills  and  Wiishiiig-tub  factories ;  and  so  long  as  they 
do  not  give  it,  how  can  they  ask  the  Smiths  or  Joneses,  whose 
whole  property  is  this  Fall,  to  sacrifice  their  entire  substance  ? 
Tiiere  has  been  a  good  deal  of  vague  talk  about  this  Intern.'v- 
tional  Paik.  Meetings  have  been  held,  and  influential  men 
liave  decrlared  themselves  boldly  in  favor  of  it.  But  there  the 
matter  has  stopi)ed.  Why  ?  Is  it  that  we  do  not  see  how 
urgent  the  need  of  action  is?  No  American  can  go  to  Niagar.i 
without  feeling  his  face  burn  with  shame.  Vulgarity,  preten- 
sion, a  trading  spirit  of  the  very  lowest  kind,  have  taken  posses- 
sion of  this  most  sublime  gift  of  Nature  to  us.  It  gives  a 
character  to  the  nation  in  the  eyes  of  foreigners,  a  character 
which  we  actually  do  not  deserve.  If  neither  Congress  nor  the 
State  of  New  York  will  move  in  the  matter,  why  do  not  the 
women  of  America?  They  saved  Mount  Vernon,  by  a  little 
steady,  persistent  effort,  to  be  a  sacred  possession  for  us  for  all 
time.     Why  can  they  not  save  Niagara? 


62 


APPENDIX. 


IV. 


[From  Ihn  Nation,  Sept.  14,  1882.] 


TiiK  "  Trihuiic  "  cmIIs  upon  tlu'  woiiu'ii  olWim'ricn,  wlio  "saveil 
.Mount  Vi-rnon,"  to  unilf  in  ii  niovcnu'iit  to  suvc  Niiigiirii  and 
kiH'p  it  fiTf  from  tlio  vulgar  (losi'orution  from  wliii-h  it  is  now 
sufferini^.  It  says  :  "  If  noithor  Congress  nor  tho  State  of  New 
York  will  move  in  the  matter,  why  do  not  thi!  women  of  Amer- 
ica?" There  is  a  fundamental  diflerenee  between  the  caso  of 
JNIount  Vernon  and  that  of  Niagara  whi<-h  the  "  Trihune  "  seems 
to  have  overlooked.  The  interest  in  .Mount  Vernon  is  due  to 
historical,  it(ditical,  and  patriotic  causes,  and  was  widespreiid. 
The  amount  of  money,  too,  recjuired  w;ih  very  small.  lint  tlie 
work  of  saving  a  w.aterfall  from  desecration  involves  an  a])peal 
to  the  love  of  the  beautiful, — a  sentiment  iniuih  less  strong  in 
the  Unitetl  States  than  some  other  sentiments.  Governor  Cor- 
nell prob.ably  (airly  represents  tho  feeling  of  the  average  Amer- 
ican man  as  to  Niagara,  and  his  observation,  on  hearing  of  tho 
movement  for  an  international  park,  was  an  inquiry  as  to  whether 
the  defeat  of  the  s(!li(>me  would  ])revent  the  water  from  coming 
over  the  falls.  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  for  the  Amer- 
ican woman  the  beaiitiful  possesses  a  deej)er  interest  than  for 
the  American  man,  and  if  she  can  be  roused  to  do  something 
for  Niagara,  there  is  no  telling  what  she  may  accomplish.  A 
good  deal  has  been  made  of  the  violent  opposition  of  the  hack- 
men,  guides,  and  otlier  waterfall  panisites  who  now  make 
money  out  of  the  Idixstx-fith'c  system  prevailing  at  Niagara, 
lint  this  has  been  ii  good  «leal  overestimated.  It  is  iudifference 
which  is  at  the  root  of  the  trouble. 


I 


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